Eva Ramirez v. United States

Appellant, Eva Ramirez, was tried and convicted by a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona under counts IV and V of an indictment charging misapplication of national bank funds in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656 . We have jurisdiction of her appeal under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

The sole issue on appeal is whether counts IV and V of the indictment con tain sufficient allegations to charge offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 656 .

In substance, counts IV and V of the indictment charge that appellant willfully misapplied bank funds in that she distributed proceeds of loans intended for G. Pesqueira and Hector L. Salazar to other than the intended recipients. Appellant contends that these counts are fatally defective because they fail to allege (1) an intent to injure or defraud the bank; (2) that the misapplication was an “unlawful one”; and (3) that moneys, funds or credits of the bank, as distinguished from the borrowers’ funds, were misapplied.

The sufficiency of an indictment is tested by whether, first of all, it contains the elements of the offense charged and “sufficiently apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet,” and,…