308 Mass. 481 | Mass. | 1941
These are two indictments against a former elected clerk for the Superior Court for civil business in the county of Suffolk, for corruptly requesting and accepting bribes. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 268, § 8. The first indictment, numbered 626, was in four counts, each of which alleged that the defendant “being a county officer, to wit” such clerk, “did corruptly request and accept from” a.named person a specified sum of money “under an agreement and with the understanding that his, the said John P. Connolly’s vote, opinion, judgment and decision should be given in a particular manner, and upon a particular side of a question, cause and proceeding which was then pending, and which might by law come and be brought before him, the said John P. Connolly, in his official capacity” as such clerk and that in that capacity “he, the said John P. Connolly, should make a particular nomination and appointment.” Specifications filed as to each count set forth that the defendant as clerk had final authority to hire, discharge and continue in employment certain employees attached to his office, and that in consideration of the payment of a specified amount of money to a third person named, he promised to employ or continue in employment the person paying the money. The second indictment, numbered 646, origi
The change in the mode of selection of clerks of courts, from appointive to elective, was made by art. 19 of the Amendments to the Constitution, approved by the people on May 23, 1855, which reads: “The legislature shall prescribe, by general law, for the election of . . . clerks of the courts, by the people of the several counties, ... for such term of office as the legislature shall prescribe.” Opinion of the Justices, 117 Mass. 603. Commonwealth v. Mather, 121 Mass. 65. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 221, § 3, provides for a clerk for the Superior Court of the county of Suffolk for civil business, who shall hold office for six years beginning with the first Wednesday of January following his election. In 1934 and again in 1940 such a clerk was to be chosen in. Suffolk, c. 54, §§ 62, 155. The person elected in 1934 having died, the defendant was elected at the biennial election in November, 1936, to serve during the unexpired term, or until January, 1941, as provided by c. 54, § 142. He qualified and took office on December 1, 1936. He continued in office until he resigned on July 19, 1939, on the eve of a hearing under c. 211, § 4, for his removal from office upon a petition which was based in part upon the transactions upon which these indictments are based.
As clerk, the defendant had no power to appoint or remove any of the fourteen assistant clerks provided for
There was no direct evidence of any payment of money to the defendant. But it appeared, without dispute, that William T. Conway was the defendant’s intimate friend and political supporter, who had charge under the defendant of the campaign in 1936 which resulted in the defendant’s election, who was the constant companion of the defendant in his living rooms at a hotel from which he conducted his campaign, who accompanied the defendant on a vacation after the election, and who during the defendant’s occupancy of the position of clerk was almost a daily visitor to him and to his office. There was undisputed evidence that payments of money were made to Conway in the amounts specified in the counts and specifications already stated in a footnote, by the persons named therein. Conway’s explanation of these payments is in substance that the employees voluntarily helped Conway discharge debts that he had incurred in the campaign, in order to ingratiate themselves with Conway and Connolly. Both Conway and Connolly testified that the latter knew nothing of these payments until after the petition for his removal had been filed in 1939.
There was ample evidence that Conway received each sum of money stated in the various counts under an agree
(3) Mary M. Cunningham, an employee for many years, testified that after she was discharged by Connolly on February 4, 1937, she asked the help of her brother-in-law, a police officer named Keegan. She with Keegan saw Conway, who said he would see what he could do. The next day Conway telephoned that there had been a mistake, since she had supported Connolly in the campaign, and that she was to have her position back. Keegan testified that after-wards he met Conway on the street. Conway told him
Passing to the evidence upon the counts of the second indictment, we take them in order. (1) Anna E. Pugh, an employee for many years, testified that after a conversation with Miss Kennedy, the terms of which were excluded, she paid Miss Kennedy $200 on January 17, 1937. Miss Kennedy testified that she paid it to Conway. (2) Edward J. Kelley, an employee for many years, testified that in the latter part of January, 1937, Conway told him that certain employees were to be asked to pay money to help defray the expenses of the campaign, that the employees who were asked to pay were to be retained, that it was intended that Kelley should contribute $300, and that he would have to get the $300. Conway said he would see Kelley the next day to learn what he could do. Within a day or two Conway asked Kelley whether Kelley had anything for him. Kelley answered that he had, and Conway said he would see him downstairs. They were . then in the clerk’s office. Kelley went downstairs, and there gave Conway $300. (3) Gertrude Cotter, an employee for many years, testified that prior to January 18, 1937, she had a conversation with Miss Kennedy about paying money, and after Miss Kennedy introduced her to Conway Miss Cotter gave $200 to him on January 19, 1937. Con
(5) Mary V. Brophy, an employee, did not testify, but she was one of the women named by Margaret W. Kennedy in the list of those she approached at the request of Conway in January, 1937. The witness Kennedy testified that Mary V. Brophy was to pay $250, and that she paid Conway in the presence of the witness. Conway testified that he got the money. (6) Martha E. Friel, an employee for many years, testified that in January, 1937, after a conversation with Miss Kennedy, she paid $300 to her. A few days after the money was paid Conway said to her that she had nothing to worry about. Miss Kennedy testified that she paid the money to Conway. (7) Thomas F. Brophy, an employee for many years, testified that in January or February, 1937, Conway told him in the office that he would like to see Brophy outside in the corridor. Outside, Conway said to Brophy that it was going to cost him $250 to hold his job, and gave him two days to get the money. Brophy borrowed it and on request of Conway they went downstairs to the men's toilet where Brophy paid it to him. Conway said, “You are all right now.” (9) Mary C. Brogie, an employee for many years, testified that after a conversation with Miss Kennedy in March, 1937, she got $250 and gave it to Conway the next day in the presence of Miss Kennedy. A few days later Conway told Miss Brogie that everything would be all right, that she had nothing to worry about.
There was enough evidence, apart from hearsay declarations by Conway that the defendant was being paid the money extorted from employees; to warrant a finding that Connolly received the money and accepted it as a bribe, and that Conway was his agent to request and accept
The defendant contends that since he was not present in any sense when the various payments were made, nor, with the possible exceptions already noted, when there was talk of paying money for jobs, he could have been nothing more than an accessory to the felony of which he was convicted as a principal. Under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 268, § 8, the section under which the indictments were drawn, no one but a public officer can be a principal. To be guilty, he must corruptly either “request” or “accept” a gift, gratuity or promise such as is described in the statute. Commonwealth v. Hogan, 249 Mass. 555, 561, 564. Commonwealth v. Albert, 307 Mass. 239, 243. Whether he does so personally or by an authorized agent is immaterial. Dolan v. Commonwealth, 304 Mass. 325, 339. See also Greenburg v. Corvine, 279 Mass. 339, 342. The interposition by a public officer of an agent or “bagman” (to use the popular expression) as
What has been said disposes of the defendant’s contention that there is a variance between the specifications (Commonwealth v. Albert, 307 Mass. 239, 244) which set forth an agreement or understanding to which the defendant was a party, and the evidence which in general showed no talk upon the matter of paying money for jobs between the defendant and those who paid money. An agreement or understanding with an authorized agent of the defendant was equivalent to one with the defendant, to say nothing of the permissible inference that the defendant himself accepted the money from Conway upon the same agreement or understanding.
The indictments allege that the defendant as clerk was a "county officer.” G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 268, § 8, applies to "a legislative, executive, judicial, county or municipal officer.” The defendant contends that he was not a county officer, but a judicial officer. He was an officér of a court, but he was not a judicial officer, for he had no judicial functions. The fact that his office was so closely related to the court that the power to remove him could be vested in a court, does not show him to be a judicial officer. Opinion of the Justices, 300 Mass. 596. His official duties were lim
In all, more than four hundred sixty-six exceptions were taken during the trial. All that have been included in the assignment of errors and argued have been considered. Many of them related to the admission or exclusion of evidence. The cases come here upon an appeal, a summary of the record, a transcript of the evidence, and an assignment of' errors, under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 278, §§ 33A-33G. Assignment 2 assails the admission of the evidence of the defendant’s private secretary as to her doings in 1938 and 1939 in collecting from other employees a so called good will fund to help the defendant defray the continual expenditures for tickets, advertisements and contributions that are said to be expected of an elective officer. The indictments now in question were tried with others, against the defendant and Conway, and the evidence may have been relevant to some of them. None of this evidence had any tendency to prove the guilt of the defendant upon the present indictments, which relate to transactions all of which were closed as early as May, 1937. Whether the evidence was properly received or not, it had no bearing on these indictments, and was harmless as to them. The same consideration applies to assignments 3, 16, 17, 18, 22, 25, 32, 41, 42 and 43, which deal with evidence of the collection of money in 1938 and 1939 from employees for a campaign fund for the expected campaign of 1940. Assignments 20, 21 and 23 relate to several employees who, in 1939, at the request of the defendant, borrowed money and gave it to the defendant, who under
Assignments 4 to 15 inclusive, 19, and 31 attack the admission in evidence of dealings of the employees paying the bribes or their agents with Conway and Margaret W. Kennedy. The objection is that the defendant was not present. But the case was tried on the theory that Kennedy was a tool of Conway, and Conway the agent of the defendant, and further that the money paid went to the defendant. Sufficient evidence appeared, as has been shown, to support that theory. That made evidence of dealings with Kennedy and Conway competent. It is unimportant whether at the time the evidence of those dealings was admitted agency had been fully proved. It is sufficient that before the testimony was closed evidence to support that theory was in the case. The whole case could not be proved in one breath, and the order of proof of the different elements that in combination made up the case for the Commonwealth was within the control of the judge. Commonwealth v. Tucker, 189 Mass. 457, 467. O’Brien v. Keefe, 175 Mass. 274, 278, 279. Ellis v. Thayer, 183 Mass. 309. Commonwealth v. Johnson, 199 Mass. 55, 59. Alden Bros. Co. v. Dunn, 264 Mass. 355, 362.
Two exceptions under these assignments may need special discussion. John E. Noonan, subject to the defendant’s exception, was permitted to testify that Conway told him that the money he paid “was going to the clerk,” the defendant. Margaret W. Kennedy, subject to the defendant’s exception, was permitted to testify that Conway told her that he gave to the defendant the money paid by her for her position. An indictment against Conway and the defendant for conspiracy to obtain bribes was tried with the present indictments. Apparently the evidence in question was admissible upon that indictment under the familiar rule applicable to conspiracy cases. Commonwealth v. Waterman, 122 Mass. 43, 59. Commonwealth v. Smith, 163
The judge rightly excluded evidence from seventeen employees that neither the defendant nor any other person had ever asked them to pay money in order to retain their positions. The Commonwealth did not contend that the defendant tried to extort bribes from all his employees. The fact that bribes were not sought from some had no substantial tendency to show that they were not sought from others.
The evidence of the employees who testified to paying money to keep their positions was admitted, generally speaking, subject to the limitation that it was received only upon the counts in which the particular employee was named. At the close of the evidence for the Commonwealth the judge broadened the scope of this evidence already admitted by ruling that it was to be considered on all indictments and counts upon the question whether Conway was authorized to request and accept bribes on behalf of the defendant. To this the defendant excepted, but he did not express any desire to cross-examine the witnesses further because of this change of ruling. He proceeded to put on his evidence in defence. The alleged bribes covered a
The witness John E. Noonan, named in the first count of the first indictment, gave material evidence against the defendant. On cross-examination he denied that the defendant as clerk had been compelled to reprove him at the request of the district attorney for his conduct in the corridors of the court house during a criminal trial. This may have been permissible cross-examination to test the reliability of the witness. But since the subject matter of that cross-examination was immaterial to the issues in the case, the defendant could not of right contradict the denial of the witness by testimony. Hathaway v. Crocker, 7 Met. 262, 266. Harrington v. Lincoln, 2 Gray, 133. Lane v. Bryant, 9 Gray, 245. Kaler v. Builders’ Mutual Fire Ins. Co. 120 Mass. 333, 336. Commonwealth v. Dunan, 128 Mass. 422. Jordan v. McKinney, 144 Mass. 438. Gorham v. Moor, 197 Mass. 522, 525. Attorney General v. Hitchcock, 1 Exch. 91. See also Kavanaugh v. Colombo, 304 Mass. 379, 381; Klein v. Keresey, 307 Mass. 51, 52-53; Goodyear Park Co. v. Holyoke, 298 Mass. 510, 512. Compare Commonwealth v. Hunt, 4 Gray, 421. But the defendant was permitted to testify that the accusation that Noonan had denied was true. In his argument counsel for the defendant said that the defendant’s testimony required the Commonwealth either to put Noonan on the stand again, or to call the district attorney as a witness to contradict the defendant. This argument was rightly stopped by the judge. Noonan had given his testimony on the matter. He and the defendant could not be expected and should not be permitted to take turns in contradicting each other on the same point to the end of the case. There- was no occasion to summon the district attorney to cast his testimony into the scale. The defendant had no right to set up a false issue and insist upon trying it.
There was evidence that in 1939, at a meeting of the em
In argument the assistant district attorney referred to the honorable political career of a distinguished Bostonian of an earlier day, whose given name was the same as one of the names of the defendant, and said that when that man held office there was no sign “Jobs for sale”; neither did he resign under fire, but died in office. Exceptions were taken to the refusal of the judge to stop that argument. See Commonwealth v. Cabot, 241 Mass. 131, 148. The man to whom reference was made may be said to have become a historical character familiar to the average jury in Boston. We think
The remaining assignments of error relate to the charge. Assignment 38 so far as it relates to exception 448 has.no bearing upon the indictments before us. So far as it relates to exception 449 we are not referred to the passage to which exception was taken. The exception seems to relate to the instruction in substance that on the question whether the defendant authorized Conway to request or accept bribes the evidence of the several employees who paid money might be considered in all the cases. This was merely a repetition of the ruling made at the close of the evidence for the Commonwealth, already discussed, and was not erroneous.
Assignment 40 is to the refusal to give the defendant’s requested instruction numbered 23, which read: "The receipt of money by the defendant Conway in the name of the defendant John Patrick Connolly, constitutes no evidence against the defendant Connolly, unless you find that the defendant Connolly had previously authorized Conway to act for him to receive this money.” This requested instruction, though correct on close analysis, might have misled the jury, for it ignored the possibility of convicting the defendant for accepting the money under an agreement or with an understanding such as is denounced in the statute, even . though Conway had received it without previous authority. But although the judge refused to give the requested instruction in terms, he did give it in substance. His instruction was sufficiently favorable to the defendant.
' Upon each indictment the entry will be
Judgment affirmed.