People v. Felt

VAN DYKE, J. Appellant was charged with the crime of forgery. He was tried by a jury and convicted. He appeals from the judgment and order denying his motion for a new trial.

[138]Prior to the introduction in evidence of an extrajudicial statement made by appellant to an officer, the following had been shown. Under date of June 11, 1949, a check had been written, drawn on the Bank of America, Modesto Branch, directing payment of $56 “for Labor” to J. R. Pelt. The signature read “L. D. Jondrsdon.” On the same day appellant and another man traveled by cab from Modesto to Riverbank. While the driver and the other waited in the cab appellant entered the store of one Rabbiosa and attempted to cash the check. Rabbiosa suspected the validity of the document and called the bank. He was told there was no account in the name of the drawer, whereupon appellant suggested there might be a mistake in spelling the name. Rabbiosa asked the bank to check several different spellings but no account was reported under any of them. The cheek then bore the endorsement “J. R. Pelt.” Appellant told Rabbiosa he was John Pelt and he wanted the money in order to pay a sum he owed to one of Rabbiosa ’s employees. Appellant returned to the cab and told the driver to drive them to a grocery store in Modesto. There both appellant and his companion went into the store. They returned to the cab and were driven to a second store. There the companion went into the store and cashed the check, bought groceries to the amount of $3.80, and returned to the cab. He handed $12 to appellant, who then paid the cab fare. When the check was cashed it bore the additional endorsement, “L. D. Johnson.” On presentation to the bank the check was dishonored. The name of the drawer did not appear in the county register of voters nor in a published directory of Stanislaus County. The records of the bank for three years back disclosed no account in that name.

When this proof had been given, an extrajudicial statement of appellant was admitted over his objection that the corpus delicti had not been proved. Appellant told the officer that he had endorsed the check; that it had been written in his presence by a man he did not know; that he and the writer had taken the check to Rabbiosa’s store where he attempted to cash it; that after calling the bank the storekeeper told him there were no funds in bank under the drawer’s name; that the two men then returned to Modesto and he told his companion the market where the check was cashed would probably cash it; that his companion went in and cashed it; that appellant received $26 of the amount derived. Appellant did not testify.