William Rex Baty v. United States

The appellant was convicted of violating Title 18 U.S.C. § 2314 , for causing forged checks to be transported in interstate commerce. There was substantial evidence to support the conviction. The appellant was the only one who cashed the forged checks. The expert testified that the body of the checks were in his handwriting, and that he could have written the signatures. Two FBI agents said that he admitted forging four of them. The admissions were denied, but it is not the function of this court to reevaluate the evidence.

The checks were cashed in Long Beach, California, on the Farmers Bank of Emden, Missouri, and in the due course of business were presented to that bank for payment. 18 U.S.C. § 2314 reads as follows:

Prior to 1948, the words, “or causes to be transported,” appeared in the section immediately after the word “transports.” The reviser’s note explains that, the deletion was made possible by a change in the definition of a principal, which as amended now reads:

The appellant argues that the last thing-he wanted, when he cashed the checks. was to have them presented for payment in Missouri, and that he cannot therefore be said to have caused their transportation…