People v. Sheeley

WOOD (Fred B.), J.

Convicted of forgery, a violation of section 470 of the Penal Code, defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence at the trial. He claims (1) insufficiency of evidence at the preliminary examination because, he asserts, without the use of his extrajudicial statements there was no proof of the corpus delicti, and (2) prejudicial error in the admission of certain checks assertedly not related to the offense charged.

As to the Preliminary Examination

The state claims (1) that by not applying for a writ of prohibition within the time limited by section 999a, Penal Code, defendant lost his right to review the trial court’s order denying his motion to set the information aside for lack of competent evidence of reasonable or probable cause; (2) that defendant can not now urge it upon appeal because he does not and can not show that he was prejudiced by the

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denial of that motion; and (3) at the preliminary hearing sufficient evidence of the corpus delicti was adduced without the use of defendant’s extrajudicial statements. We are convinced that the state’s third point is good. Therefore, we need not consider its other two points.

At the preliminary hearing the corpus delicti was sufficiently shown by the following evidence: A check was in circulation purportedly signed by “K. E. Lomison” as maker against the account of “Atlas Box Co., 879 Bryant Street, San Francisco, Calif.” with the “Bank of America, Twenty Second and Mission Street, San Francisco, California” (identified as No. “11-57”) in favor of “Thomas M. Dowson” as payee. It was not the cheek of the Atlas Box Company of San Francisco. No one by the name of Lomison was employed by that company or authorized to sign its checks and no one named Thomas M. Dowson was employed by it. There was no Bank of America at 22d and Mission Streets and no such ABA number as 11-57. A beer salesman testified that he received this check in payment for a beer delivery. This evidence went in by testimony of one of the owners of the Atlas Box Company, the beer salesman, and an inspector in the Oakland Police Department. That evidence, together with the inferences that reasonably could be drawn from it, sufficiently proved the corpus delicti without use of any of defendant’s extrajudicial statements.

The corpus delicti may be established by circumstantial evidence and inferences that may be drawn therefrom.