People v. Ball

HOUSER, J.

Defendant was convicted on each of two counts in an information wherein he was charged with the commission of the crime of forgery and a prior conviction of a charge of forgery, a felony. He appeals from the judgment and an order denying his motion for a new trial. Other than as to the second count in the information, no serious effort is made by appellant to show that prejudicial error was committed by the trial court on the trial of the action.

Appellant’s first contention is that the evidence adduced on the trial was insufficient to support the verdict. The evidence showed that the defendant Ball operated in company with his co-defendant Welch, who confessed his own guilt, but asserted the innocence of defendant Ball. That the check was a forgery and that it was actually passed by someone, if not • undisputed, is at least satisfactorily established by the evidence. The only question raised by appellant in that connection is whether the evidence sufficiently identified defendant Ball as the guilty person. The plan pursued by the defendant Welch, as well as by the individual who either accompanied him in his felonious work, or who operated on his own account in the transaction or transactions which were involved in the several charges against the defendant Welch and defendant Ball, was that the purchase of a pair of shoes was made by one of them and an indorsed check purporting to have been executed by Spencer & Morris and G. B. Morris in favor of one W. H. Johnson, for an amount approximating $35, was tendered in payment. In exchange for the check the purchaser obtained from the shoe merchant a pair of shoes and cash representing the difference between the price of the shoes and the face of the check. The evidence which tended to establish the identity of defendant as the passer of the check consisted of the following facts: The clerk in

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the shoe store to whom the bogus check was tendered testified that Welch was

not

the man with whom he dealt on the occasion in question, but that defendant Ball “appears to be the same man that gave me the check, but I don’t think I am sure; . . . not quite sure. ... He has a slight resemblance to the man that gave me the check. ’ ’ A police officer, who qualified as a handwriting expert, testified that in his opinion defendant Ball “wrote the face of the check.” Three days after the forgery was committed the two defendants were arrested in each other’s company. At that time one of the defendants was carrying a pair of shoes either in his hand or under his arm, and on the person of defendant Ball was found approximately $134 in cash and another check identical in form with the check which is the subject matter of the second count of the information on which defendant Ball was convicted. With relation to the check found in the possession of defendant Ball, the arresting officer testified that at the time he took such check from defendant Ball, he (the officer) said to defendant Ball, “You didn’t get this one passed yet, eh?” to which defendant Ball replied, “No, we didn’t get that one passed.” That such evidence, together with the inferences properly deducible therefrom, was sufficient to support the verdict, this court entertains no doubt. The fact that the defendant Welch testified that he alone was the guilty person was not conclusive. The ultimate question of the guilt of defendant Ball was to be determined by the jury from all the evidence in the case, and since the jury by its verdict, based upon sufficient evidence, has declared that Ball was guilty of the offense of which he was accused, in the absence of prejudicial error occurring on the trial of the action affecting the substantial rights of the defendant, this court is bound by the verdict. The contention by appellant that the verdict could be reached only by basing one inference upon another inference is without merit.