People v. Pratt

205 Cal. App. 2d 838, 205 Cal. App. 838, 23 Cal. Rptr. 469, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2205
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 24, 1962
DocketCrim. 4072
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 205 Cal. App. 2d 838 (People v. Pratt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Pratt, 205 Cal. App. 2d 838, 205 Cal. App. 838, 23 Cal. Rptr. 469, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2205 (Cal. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinions

SULLIVAN, J.

Defendant was charged in an information with a violation of section 476a of the Penal Code (wilful drawing of check without sufficient funds with intent to defraud). The information alleged that he had previously been convicted of a violation of section 470 of the Penal Code (forgery) and in addition charged two prior felony convictions (burglary and robbery). Defendant pleaded not guilty and admitted the two prior convictions. He properly waived a trial by jury and after trial by the court was found guilty as charged and sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison. He appeals from the judgment of conviction.

On September 10, 1960, the defendant presented a $20 cheek at the check cashing booth of a Safeway store in Eureka, California. At the time, the manager of the store was working in the booth and the defendant spoke to him by name, although the latter testified he had never seen the defendant before. The manager cashed the cheek and gave the defendant $20.

The cheek was drawn on the Bank of America, Eureka Branch, dated September 10, 1960, made payable to cash and signed “Robert Leonard Pratt.” The defendant admitted on the stand that he wrote it. On its face were his address apparently written by him and his employer’s name which he denied [840]*840writing. Although the cheek showed that in the date “September 10” the zero had been written over a “2,” the manager testified that it was so written when handed to him and that the defendant had not made out the check in front of him. The check was presented by Safeway for payment and dishonored, since the defendant had no account at the above-mentioned bank.

The defendant testified that he wrote the check and cashed it over the holiday weekend of September 10. He maintained however that he had been drinking for several days and was intoxicated at the time. He claimed to have written other checks at about the same time and that afterward, when he realized what he had done, he made inquiries at certain places of business as to whether he had cashed checks there so that he could redeem them. On cross-examination, he admitted that he knew the check subject of the instant charge “wasn’t any good” but claimed he had had intentions of opening an account at the bank to make the check good. In response to questions by the court, he testified that he did not know whether he wrote the check on September 10 or September 12 or whether it was he who wrote the “zero” over the “2” in said date. As we have pointed out, his employer’s name was printed on the check; he denied it was his printing.

He further testified that on September 15 he left for Portland, Oregon, where, he said, he spent part of the time in an alcoholic clinic, returning to Eureka on January 28, 1961. On his return, the matter of the defendant’s checks came up for discussion with his parole officer. He again left Eureka to take a job in Crescent City. The defendant further testified that before he did so he asked his parole officer whether he should pay the outstanding cheeks but was told by the latter to wait until he commenced working in Crescent Cit3r.

While under cross-examination, the defendant also admitted that while in Crescent City he cashed three checks drawn on the United States National Bank of Portland without having sufficient funds at said bank, that as a result he was arrested in Crescent City and pleaded guilty to having so drawn such checks, and that when he was arrested on the instant charge, he had in his possession another check drawn on the last named bank which was signed “Robert Leonard” and which he attempted to dispose of in a wastepaper basket at the time.

Some of the defendant’s testimony was corroborated by other witnesses. On cross-examination, the manager of the Safeway store testified that he “smelled liquor” while the defendant’s cheek was being cashed but would not state posi[841]*841lively the odor came from the defendant. The manager of a Purity store in Eureka testified that on or about September 15 the defendant inquired at the store whether he had had a cheek cashed there. One Joan Givianini testified that the defendant had been drinking heavily at the time, that she had borrowed money to help him redeem any outstanding checks and had gone with him to the Purity store when he made the inquiry there. The defendant’s parole officer, called as a witness in defense, testified that he had first learned about the defendant’s checks from Mrs. Givianini in October and had talked to the defendant on the subject when the latter returned from Portland in January.

The defendant contends before us that: 1) Because the trial judge was blind and therefore unable to perceive the evidence, the court below lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine the case and its judgment of conviction being rendered without due process of law is void; 2) the evidence was insufficient to establish the requisite intent to defraud; and 3) we should reduce the degree of the offense or the punishment imposed or discharge the defendant from custody.

Defendant’s first contention is predicated upon subdivision 7 of section 170 of the Code of Civil Procedure which, in relevant part, provides: “No justice or judge shall sit or act as such in any action or proceeding: 7. When, as a judge of a court of record, by reason of permanent or temporary physical impairment, he is unable to properly perceive the evidence or properly conduct the proceedings.” Subdivision 7 was added to the section in 1957. (Stats. 1957, ch. 1545, § 1, p. 2905.)1 Section 170 is applicable to criminal proceedings. (Blackman v. MacCoy (1959) 169 Cal.App.2d 873, 878 [338 P.2d 234, 339 P.2d 169].)

However, there is nothing in the record before us which shows or gives rise to a reasonable inference that the trial judge was “by reason of permanent or temporary physical impairment” including blindness “unable to properly perceive the evidence or properly conduct the proceedings” in the instant case. We have examined the record thoroughly and find that it contains no statement, remark, observation or intimation, by either the defendant or his counsel, pertinent to the judge's perception of the evidence or conduct of the pro[842]*842ceedings, much less any objection made before, during or after the trial by or on behalf of the defendant, who freely waived a trial by jury in the manner required by law (Cal. Const., art. I, § 7), that his case should not be heard and determined by the trial judge below. The record discloses no motion or proceeding of any kind to disqualify the trial judge. The defendant made no motion for new trial. His first contention therefore is, on this record, entirely devoid of merit and the issues presented thereby are, in our view, disposed of on such grounds.

Nevertheless we cannot remain insensitive to the fact that counsel for both parties have argued this issue in their briefs and at oral argument.2 While appellant’s statement in his brief as set forth in the footnote is not part of the record on appeal (Gantner v. Gantner (1952) 39 Cal.2d 272, 278 [246 P.2d 923]), we are prompted to pursue the matter further, upon the assumption, arguendo, that the judge was blind.

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People v. Pratt
205 Cal. App. 2d 838 (California Court of Appeal, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
205 Cal. App. 2d 838, 205 Cal. App. 838, 23 Cal. Rptr. 469, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pratt-calctapp-1962.