United States v. Skiba, 12699.

• Decision Date: 12 November 1959
• Docket Number: No. 12699.,12699.
• Citation: 271 F.2d 644
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Walter E. SKIBA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

271 F.2d 644 (1959)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Walter E. SKIBA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 12699.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

November 12, 1959.

Joseph T. Helling, South Bend, Ind., for appellant.

Kenneth C. Raub, U. S. Atty., Charles R. LeMaster, Asst. U. S. Atty., Fort Wayne, Ind., Hugh A. Henry, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., South Bend, Ind., for appellee.

Before SCHNACKENBERG, KNOCH and CASTLE, Circuit Judges.

SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judge.

Walter E. Skiba, defendant, was indicted for the robbery of a bank at Bristol, Indiana, allegedly insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Upon a trial before a jury, defendant was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of twenty years, pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. § 2113(a). He has appealed.

We quote from a brief of defendant's counsel:

"The errors relied on arise out of the ruling of the Court in permitting the witness, Kirkdorffer, the Assistant Cashier of the Bank, to testify over the defendant\'s objection, that Government\'s Exhibit 2 was a certificate under which the Bank was operating on the date of the robbery; the ruling of the Court in permitting Government\'s Exhibit 2, consisting of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation certificate, to be admitted in evidence over the defendant\'s objection; and the failure of the Court to grant the defendant\'s motions for judgment of acquittal made at the close of the Government\'s case and at the close of all of the evidence."

To support the allegation in the indictment that the bank where the alleged robbery took place was insured under Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Harold M. Kirkdorffer, assistant cashier of the bank, testified that it was operating under said exhibit 2, which reads as follows: ¹²

By subsequent motions defendant sought a judgment of acquittal "on the ground that the prosecution had failed to establish that the bank involved was an insured bank of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation."

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created by an act of Congress, 12 U.S.C.A. § 1811, and was thereby directed to insure the deposits of all banks entitled to the benefits of said insurance.

§ 1819 of said act provides, inter alia:

"* * * the Corporation shall become a body corporate and as such shall have power —

First. To adopt and use a corporate seal."

and

"* * * exercise by its Board of Directors, or duly authorized officers or agents, * * * such incidental powers as shall be necessary to carry out the powers so granted."

In Wynne v. United States, 217 U.S. 234, 30 S.Ct. 447, 54 L.Ed. 748, the question arose as to the competency of certain evidence relied upon to establish the national character of a vessel, upon which a murder had been committed, in the harbor of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. A certificate of enrollment, purporting to have been issued at San Francisco by one Coey, "acting deputy collector of customs," initialed "W," and signed by E. W. Marlin, deputy naval officer, as required by § 4332, Rev.Stat., 46 U.S.C.A. § 274, which recited that the vessel was solely owned by the National Oil and Transportation Company, a corporation organized under the laws of California, was introduced for the purpose of establishing that the vessel was of American nationality. The principal objection was that this certificate was not the original, but a copy not sufficiently authenticated. It appeared to be authenticated as a true copy by "N. .S Farley, Deputy Collector of Customs. W." Seal At page 246 of 217 U.S., at page 450 of 30...