People v. Breuer

HOUSER, P. J.

In an information that was filed against him defendant was charged, first, with the commission by him of the crime of forgery; secondly, of the crime of grand theft. In the same information, defendant also was charged with having theretofore suffered two prior convictions for felonies alleged to have been committed by him, for each of which he had served a term in prison. When the action came on for trial, defendant admitted “both the prior convictions”. Thereafter, in due course, he was found guilty of each of the offenses of forgery and grand theft. He has appealed from the resulting judgments, as well as from an order by which his motion for a new trial was denied.

The principal and controlling point urged by appellant as a reason for the reversal of the judgment is that the evidence adduced on the trial of the action was insufficient to sustain the judgment.

The pertinent facts upon which the jury was authorized to return its verdict are substantially as follows: On a Sunday afternoon, defendant, who at that time represented himself as “William Kraw”, purchased a second-hand automobile, in payment of which he then and there gave a check for the sum of $447.05. At that time he exhibited several other checkbooks, which he carried in one of his pockets. Defendant personally signed the check “Wm. Kraw”. In the course of his attempt to establish his identity as “William Kraw”, defendant first requested the seller of the automobile to telephone to a hotel in Pasadena, where he said he was stopping, although he claimed that he actually resided in

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Long Beach. On his failure to thus establish his identity at the hotel in Pasadena, defendant requested the seller of the automobile to telephone to the manager of a certain hotel at Long Beach (at which he had stopped when he there had met an individual whose real name was William Kraw). At the latter place the identification of defendant as “William Kraw” apparently was satisfactory. Thereupon an order for the automobile also was signed by defendant-in the name of “Wm. Kraw”, and he then drove the automobile away from the place where he had purchased it. On the following day the bank on which the check had been drawn refused to certify it. Defendant never returned the automobile to the seller thereof; but two or three weeks after the sale had taken place it was found at Banning in a wrecked condition, and was then towed back to Los Angeles.