People v. Gilmore

FOX, P. J.

Defendant was convicted of the fraudulent possession of blank; or unfinished cheeks in violation of section 475, Penal Code.

1

He has appealed.

Defendant was represented in the trial court by the Public Defender. Defendant filed his notice of appeal in propria persona. He later filed application for appointment of counsel to represent him on appeal. We then examined the record and determined that appointment of counsel “would be neither advantageous to the defendant nor helpful to this court”, and therefore denied the application, notified the defendant thereof and extended his time to August 27, 1962, within which to file his opening brief. No brief has been filed.

[37]

Viewing the evidence, as we must on appeal, in the light most favorable to the successful party in the trial court

(People

v.

Newland,

15 Cal.2d 678, 681 [104 P.2d 778]), it appears that:(l) the evidence is amply sufficient to sustain defendant’s conviction; (2) none of his legal rights was improperly invaded; and (3) he had a fair trial.

The record discloses that on the night of October 10, 1961, the office of Pioneer Boring Company, Inc. of Santa Pe Springs was broken into and two groups of blank or incompleted checks were stolen. One batch (yellow) was payroll checks; the other (buff) was for commercial use.

2

Approximately the middle of October defendant sold an old typewriter for $10 to Howard D. Cook who was in the auto wrecking business. They had known each other for some 15 years and had had various business transactions with each other during that period. A couple of days later defendant brought to Cook’s home a check protector and two batches of cheeks—one yellowish in color, the other buff—with Pioneer Boring Company printed on them. Cook asked defendant “where the checks had come from.” Defendant did not “answer one way or the other.” He replied “just drunk.” Cook had the checks for approximately a week. Defendant asked him if he knew where he (defendant) could get rid of them. Cook told him that Johnny Morase “had just got out, and he probably would know something.” Later Cook went to a beer tavern where he met defendant and Johnny. He had the checks in his car. Johnny asked Cook if he had them. Cook said yes. While Cook was talking with defendant, Johnny got the checks out of Cook’s car.