Court Opinion

ID: 9531794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:14:34.632895+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:35.017622
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice:
This is an appeal by the defendant John F. Green from a conviction by a jury of issuing a bad check in violation of U.C.A., 1953, § 76-6-505.'
On February 24, 1981 the defendant and his wife, LaRue Green, entered the branch office of United Savings & Loan Company in West Jordan, Utah shortly before closing time for the purpose of opening a $10,000 savings account. He wrote a check for that amount drawn on the Greens’ checking account at the West Jordan branch of the Draper Bank & Trust Company. They were given a $10,000 money market certificate which would mature in six months.1
The following day, shortly after noon, the defendant returned to United, and according to the testimony of the only two employees who talked to him he asked to “cancel or close” the certificate.2 Although United still had the check in its office and had not yet deposited it in its account, it refused his request unless he would pay a penalty of six months’ interest on the $10,-000. Defendant declined to agree to payment of the penalty and left the premises to talk to his wife. He soon returned with her and they requested to talk to United’s manager. The manager, too, denied their request unless they would pay the penalty. She did, however, offer to call the main office of United to ascertain if the penalty could be waived. The Greens thereupon left United without resolving the matter. Shortly thereafter, employees of United telephoned the Draper bank and were told that the Greens’ account on which the check was drawn had been closed at about noon that day. United then voided its copy of the certificate and a few days later it presented the check to Draper Bank where it was stamped “account closed” and returned unpaid to United. When the defendant closed his bank account it had a balance of only $6.28, and a check for $10,-000 would not have cleared at any time subsequent to November 5, 1980. The defendant testified that when he wrote the check he was expecting payment due him of *401a draft the next day, which money he would use to cover the check. He also claimed that he had sufficient money in another account to cover the check but that later he changed his mind about purchasing the certificate and did not make the necessary transfer of funds.
Section 76-6-505(1) under which the defendant was convicted provides:
(1) Any person who issues or passes a check for the payment of money, for the purpose of obtaining ... any money, property, or other thing of value ... knowing it will not be paid by the drawee and payment is refused by the drawee, is guilty of issuing a bad cheek.
In accordance, the trial court instructed the jury that before they could convict the defendant they would have to find, among other things, that he “issued said check for the purpose of obtaining money, property or other thing of value from United Savings.” The State completely failed to produce any evidence which would satisfy this requirement and the conviction of the defendant must be reversed.
The undisputed evidence is that the defendant did not write the check for the purpose of obtaining from United any money, property or other thing of value belonging to United. It was not intended by either United or the defendant that United would give him anything for his check. It was their intention that the defendant open a savings account in his own name with his own money. The check was written for the purpose of transferring the funds from the defendant’s bank account to the new account established at United. The money market certificate was nothing more than a receipt for his own funds (not United’s) which he intended to deposit but later changed his mind and did not deposit. The certificate itself had no value until the check creating the deposit cleared the bank upon which it was drawn and a deposit in United came into being. Before that happened, the defendant aborted the transfer of funds by closing the bank account and by failing to deposit funds sufficient therein to cover the $10,000 check. Thus no deposit in United Savings was ever established and the certificate remained a nullity.
Representatives of United Savings testified that the certificate issued to the defendant was not negotiable and could not be redeemed, cashed or borrowed against until the check creating the deposit had cleared the bank upon which it was drawn and defendant’s funds were in United’s possession, which normally took seven days. Thus United did not part with anything of value which it owned when it issued the certificate. It only failed to acquire defendant’s account and deposit in its institution. Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that the defendant issued his check for the purpose of obtaining any money, property or thing of value from United. An essential element of the crime was missing.
There is no claim made by the State that the defendant attempted to make any use of the certificate. United did not incur any liability on the certificate, including any liability to pay interest thereon. Because of its policy of waiting until the depositor’s check cleared before honoring the certificate, United was never at any risk. Our statute simply does not make it a crime for a person to write a bad check on one account and deposit it to another account of his where the “deposit” is not and could not be drawn against until the check has cleared. This case involves nothing more than the defendant writing himself a worthless check.
The conviction and sentence of the defendant is reversed.
STEWART, OAKS and DURHAM, JJ., concur.

. They were also given a gift certificate but it was not introduced into evidence. Hence we have no information as to its nature or whether it had any value. We note that some “gift certificates” only provide a discount on the purchase of a product which the donee may not wish to purchase.

. The dissent states that he requested to “cash” the certificate. This was the testimony of a teller who was leaving for lunch who overheard part of the defendant’s conversation with another teller who waited on him. However, the latter and the manager both testified that he wanted to “cancel or close” the certificate. In any event, that difference in testimony is inconsequential since the certificate could not be cashed under United’s policy.