United States v. Turley

• Decision Date: 18 May 1956
• Docket Number: Crim. No. 23513.
• Citation: 141 F. Supp. 527
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. James Vernon TURLEY.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

141 F. Supp. 527

UNITED STATES of America v. James Vernon TURLEY.

Crim. No. 23513.

United States District Court D. Maryland, Criminal Division.

May 18, 1956.

George Cochran Doub, U. S. Atty., and William F. Mosner, Asst. U. S. Atty., Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.

Fenton L. Martin, Baltimore, Md., for defendant.

THOMSEN, Chief Judge.

The motion to dismiss the information in this case raises the question whether an automobile is "stolen", within the meaning of Title 18 U.S.C.A. § 2312, if the defendant obtained possession from the owner lawfully, but thereafter, and before he drove it across the state line, decided to convert it to his own use. That question has troubled the courts and the enforcement agencies for many years; the amended information in this case was drawn to raise it squarely; and the United States Attorney and court appointed counsel for the defendant have briefed it fully and ably.

The information charges:

"On or about January 20, 1956, at Columbia, South Carolina, James Vernon Turley did lawfully obtain a certain 1955 Ford automobile from its owner, Charles T. Shaver, with permission of said owner to use the automobile briefly on that day to transport certain of their friends to the homes of the latter in Columbia, South Carolina, and to return with them, but after so obtaining the automobile and transporting said persons to their homes, and before returning with them or delivering back the automobile to its owner, James Vernon Turley, without permission of the owner, and with intent in South Carolina to steal the 1955 Ford automobile, did convert the same to his own use and did unlawfully transport it in interstate commerce from Columbia, South Carolina, to Baltimore in the State and District of Maryland, knowing it to have been stolen, where he did on January 21, 1956, sell said 1955 Ford automobile without permission of the owner. 18 U.S.C. 2312."

Sec. 3 of the National Motor Vehicle Theft (Dyer) Act, as passed by Congress Oct. 29, 1919, 41 Stat. 324, 325, provided: "That whoever shall transport or cause to be transported in interstate or foreign commerce a motor vehicle, knowing the same to have been stolen, shall be punished * * *". In its present form, as amended in 1945, it provides: "Whoever transports in interstate or foreign commerce a motor vehicle or aircraft, knowing the same to have been stolen, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both." 18 U.S.C.A. § 2312.

The problem is: did Congress intend the word "stolen" to mean "taken under circumstances which amount to common law larceny"; if not, what did Congress intend the word "stolen" to mean; if so, do the facts charged amount to common law larceny.

1. Should the word "stolen" be given a uniform meaning throughout the country?

Two circuits have answered this question "yes", and have held that criminal liability under the Dyer Act should not depend upon the meaning given to the word "stolen" by the law of the state where possession of the automobile was obtained or the interstate transportation began. Hite v. United States, 10 Cir., 168 F.2d 973; Ackerson v. United States, 8 Cir., 185 F.2d 485. In the absence of a plain indication to the contrary, the meaning of a statute should not depend on state law. Uniformity is the primary consideration. Jerome v. United States, 318 U.S. 101, 63 S.Ct. 483, 87 L.Ed. 640; United States v. Handler, 2 Cir., 142 F. 2d 351, 354. When Congress has desired to incorporate state laws into federal statutes, it has done so specifically: e. g. 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 43, 1073, 1262, 5001; 15 U.S.C.A. § 715b.

In most of the opinions which have considered the Dyer Act, it seems to have been assumed that the word "stolen" should have a uniform meaning throughout the country, and should not depend upon the law of the state where the automobile was taken from the owner. In Hite v. United States and Ackerson v. United States, supra, the point was expressly decided.

2. Did Congress intend the word "stolen" to mean "taken under circumstances which amount to common law larceny"?

The primary purpose of the Dyer Act was to combat effectively the rising traffic in stolen cars by organized groups of thieves and dealers operating across state lines; this traffic usually involves common law larceny. In the House debate, Mr. Dyer said: "It provides for only two things. Section 3 provides for the punishment of a thief stealing a car and transporting it from one State to another. Section 4 provides for the receipt of the stolen car by thieves in another State for the purpose of selling and disposing of it." 58 Cong.Rec., Part 6, p. 5472. In the Senate debate, discussing a phrase, subsequently deleted, from sec. 4, "that whoever shall, with the intent to deprive the owner of the possession thereof, receive, etc.", Senator Nelson noted that the italicized phrase was surplusage, because one of the elements of the offense of stealing was deprivation of the owner of the thing stolen without his consent, and that this was a "textbook" definition. 58 Cong.Rec., Part 7, p. 6434. Senator Nelson evidently was referring to common law larceny, and not to the hodgepodge of State statutes dealing with the subject.

The Tenth, Eighth and Fifth Circuits have held that the word "stolen", as used in the Dyer Act, requires proof of common law larceny. Hite v. United States, 10 Cir., 168 F.2d 973; Ackerson v. United States, 8 Cir., 185 F.2d 485; Murphy v. United States, 5 Cir., 206 F. 2d 571. In Ex parte Atkinson, D.C.E.D. S.C., 84 F.Supp. 300, in our circuit, Judge Wyche came to the same conclusion. See also United States v. Bucur, 7 Cir., 194 F.2d 297; United States v. Kratz, D.C.Neb., 97 F.Supp. 999, 1001; United States v. O'Carter, D.C.S.D.Iowa, 91 F.Supp. 544.

The only Circuit which has expressly held the contrary is the Sixth Circuit, where a district court decision, United States v. Adcock, D.C., 49 F.Supp. 351, has been followed by later cases in the Court of Appeals; Davilman v. United States, 6 Cir., 180 F.2d 284; Collier v. United States, 6 Cir., 190 F.2d 473; Wilson v. United States, 6 Cir., 214 F.2d 313; Bruce v. United States, 10 Cir., 218 F.2d 819.

In United States v. Sicurella, 2 Cir., 187 F.2d 533, 534, the court said:

"Defendants say that a conviction under the Dyer Act cannot stand unless there is evidence sufficient to prove larceny under the narrowest definition of that crime at common law. Such a contention would not help the defendants even if it were sound—which we do not intend to intimate—for a narrow common law definition is not required under the Dyer Act. See Davilman v. United States, 6 Cir., 180 F.2d 284; Stewart v. United States, 8 Cir., 151 F.2d 386; Loney v. United States, 10 Cir., 151 F.2d 1. Moreover, it was always larceny when there was an intent at the time a bailee acquired possession of the property of another to convert it to his own use and the bailee thereafter did convert it and the owner had given over the property with no intention that title should pass. See e. g., Hite v. United States, 10 Cir., 168 F.2d 973; United States v. Patton, 3 Cir., 120 F.2d 73; Reg. v. Ashwell, 16 Q.B.D. 190."

It should be noted that Davilman is the only case cited by the Second Circuit which holds that the Dyer Act applies to anything except common law larceny. The other cases cited deal with the question whether the facts alleged or proved amounted to larceny, which will be discussed below.

Aside from the Dyer Act, the Federal courts have often held that when a Federal criminal statute uses a term known to the common law and does not define that term, the courts will apply the common law meaning of the term unless the context indicates a contrary intent on the part of Congress.¹

The constitutional objection to vagueness and uncertainty in criminal statutes is avoided by the rule that an undefined term having a meaning at common law assumes that meaning when used in a statute. United States v. Miller, D.C.W.D.Ky., 17 F.Supp. 65. See also Crawford, The Construction of Statutes, sec. 228: "If a statute is ambiguous or its meaning uncertain, it should be construed in connection with the common law in force when the statute was enacted * * * And there is a presumption that the lawmakers did not intend to abrogate or alter it in any manner * * *".

Black's Law Dictionary says "steal", besides being commonly used in indictments for larceny, may denote the criminal taking of personal property either by larceny, embezzlement or false pretenses, and may include the unlawful appropriation of things which are not technically the subject of larceny. This is probably the common, everyday meaning of the word, but the holding of the Tenth, Eighth and Fifth Circuits that the term "steal", when used in a criminal statute and undefined by the text, refers to common law larceny, is supported by the weight of authority in State courts.²

When Congress has intended to cover misappropriations other than common law larceny, it has used language appropriate to indicate such intention.³ In United States v. Morgan, D.C.Ark., 98 F.Supp. 558, the court, construing 18 U.S.C.A. § 659, noted that the breadth of the language used in that statute made inapplicable the strict construction of the Dyer Act given in Hite v. United States, 10 Cir., 168 F.2d 973. Cf. United States v. Stone, C.C., 8 F. 232; United States v. Jolly, D.C., 37 F. 108; Crabb v. Zerbst, 5 Cir., 99 F.2d 562; United States v. Handler, 2 Cir., 142 F.2d 351; Morisette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 96 L.Ed. 288.

Some states have passed statutes broadening the definition of larceny and wiping out the distinctions between the old common law crimes. But there has been no uniformity in such statutes, and the offense of common law larceny still exists in many of those states.⁴

I conclude that in the Dyer Act and in the current amendment thereto Congress used the term "stolen" to imply a taking which amounts to...