People v. Daniels

CURTIS, J.

Appellant prosecutes this appeal from a judgment of conviction under an information charging him with the crime of obtaining money by false pretenses. He relies upon three grounds for a reversal of the judgment: First, insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment; second, errors of the trial court committed in the admission and rejection of evidence; third, errors committed by the trial court in the giving of and the refusal to give instructions.

As to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment, appellant contends that, as the charge against him was of obtaining money by false pretense and that the false pretense in question was that the assets of a certain business concern, composed of the defendant and one W. L. Brown, doing business under the firm name of the Reliance Building Company, were in excess of $34,000, there was no evidence that the assets of said firm were not as represented by defendant. The complaining witness purchased a one-third interest in said business upon the representations of the defendant that the net assets of said firm amounted to

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the sum of $34,208.34. These representations were made by defendant to the complaining witness by means of a written statement purporting to show the assets and liabilities of the company. This statement, defendant represented, was taken from the books of the firm and correctly showed the condition of the business of the company and its assets and liabilities. Shortly after making said purchase and paying therefor in cash and securities the sum of $11,402.78, being exactly one-third of the amount of the net assets of said firm as shown by said written statement, the complaining witness became convinced that he had been victimized by the defendant and demanded of defendant a return of his money and securities. The defendant thereupon had prepared by an expert accountant a second statement of the affairs of the company showing its assets and liabilities. This second statement, which was given to the complaining witness by the defendant, showed that the net assets, including the $11,402.78 paid into the firm by the complaining witness, were slightly less than $17,000.

It is now claimed by appellant that this latter statement only shows the condition of the books of the company at the time of its preparation and is no evidence whatever of the amount or character of the property or assets owned by the company. We are unable to agree with appellant in this contention. The evidence shows that this statement Was prepared at the instance of the defendant for the express purpose of showing the assets and liabilities of the company, and that it was given to the complaining witness by the defendant for this purpose. Defendant at the trial took the stand in his own behalf and he made no claim that this statement was not correct, nor that it did not correctly show the property and assets of the company. Under the circumstances surrounding the preparation and delivery of this statement we think the trial court committed no error in admitting it in evidence. It purported to show the character and value of the property and assets of the company, and therefore tended to prove the falsity of the representations made by the defendant to the complaining witness as to the net assets of the company.