United States v. J. Norman Jones

This appeal is from a judgment of conviction of the one defendant remaining after three codefendants entered pleas of guilty to one or two counts of a nine count indictment charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 , 1341, or 1343. Appellant was convicted on six counts, and sentenced concurrently to eighteen months to five years on each count.

In the vernacular, appellant was charged with! large scale “check kiting.”

Appellant raises six alleged errors relating to the conduct of the trial judge; two more as to the misconduct of the prosecutrix; three as to instructions; four as to the sufficiency of the evidence ; one as to the form of the indictment; and one alleging a fatal variance between pleadings and proof.

We find no error, and we affirm.

1. Fatal Variance and Form of Indictment

(Appellant’s Argument “I”)

Appellant urges that there were three separate conspiracies, not one; and that proof of facts prior to the date alleged as the start of the conspiracy (August 1, 1966) established a fatal variance between pleading and proof.

Evidence of acts performed prior to an alleged conspiracy, if properly admissible, do not create a fatal variance. Evidence of prior fraudulent…