James H. Tripp v. United States

Appellant James H. Tripp was convicted on twenty-two counts of a twenty-six count indictment charging violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 , 871, and 1010 (1964). The government alleged that Tripp and an unindicted individual engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Housing Administration, and that Tripp submitted false documents to the FHA designed to influence it to accept and guarantee loans and mortgages on Tripp-constructed houses.

The government based a separate count on each false document even where several of the documents were submitted in support of a single application. Of course such counts were not “duplicitous,” as appellant urged, for duplicity is the charging of several separate offenses in a single count. It is rarely prejudicial. More to the point, such counts did not split a single statutory offense into multiple charges, for under 18 U.S.C. § 1010 (1964) “[t]he filing of each false document would constitute a crime.” Bins v. United States, 331 F.2d 390, 393 (5th Cir. 1964). Cf. United States v. Private Brands, Inc., 250 F.2d 554, 557 (2d Cir. 1957).

Counts Four and Twenty-four, each alleging that appellant made, uttered, and published a document containing…