People v. Slattery

139 P.2d 105, 59 Cal. App. 2d 451, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 341
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 28, 1943
DocketCrim. No. 3687
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 139 P.2d 105 (People v. Slattery) 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. Slattery, 139 P.2d 105, 59 Cal. App. 2d 451, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 341 (Cal. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

WOOD (Parker), J.

Defendant Slattery and one Charles Peck were accused jointly, in two counts, of the crime of [452]*452forgery of fictitious name. In a trial without a jury they were convicted. Defendant Slattery was granted probation upon condition that she pay a fine of $200. She appeals from the order denying her motion for a new trial.

Appellant asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment because there was no evidence, other than the testimony of her co-defendant Peck, an admitted accomplice, that the checks were fictitious or that she knew they were fictitious.

On July 7, 1942, appellant, a guest registered as H. L. Hunt at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, made a purchase at the W. & J. Sloane Furniture Company and delivered to that company a check in the sum of $30 drawn on a bank in Fresno, dated July 7, 1942, payable to' H. L. Hunt, and bearing the name Geo. McCormick as drawer. She wrote the name “H. L. Hunt” on the back of the check. The difference between the purchase price, approximately seven dollars, and the amount of the check was paid to her in cash by the furniture company.

On July 12, 1942, appellant delivered to the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, in payment of her hotel bill of approximately $20, a check in the sum of $65, drawn on the same bank in Fresno, dated July 12, 1942, payable to H. L. Hunt, and bearing the same name as drawer. She wrote the name “H. L. Hunt” on the back of the check. The difference between the amounts of her bill and the check was paid to her in cash by the hotel.

There was no account in the Fresno bank in the name of Geo. McCormick, and there was no credit arrangement by which the bank would honor checks drawn under the name of Geo. McCormick. The checks were not paid by the bank and were returned to the payees. It was stipulated that “the bank manager’s knowledge of the people in and surrounding Fresno County did not include a George McCormick.” It was stipulated further that a handwriting expert would testify that the handwriting on the fronts of the two checks was identical with an exemplar of Peek’s handwriting, and that Peck wrote the two checks. Peek had been convicted previously of grand theft as a result of borrowing money and giving as security therefor the furniture of appellant upon which there was a mortgage. Appellant was accused and tried jointly with him, but was acquitted.

Appellant told the assistant manager of the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, when she delivered the check to him for approval [453]*453as she was cheeking out of the hotel about 8:30 p. m. on July 12, 1942, that she knew George McCormick, that she had had checks from him before and the cheek was “perfectly all right”; that she had to leave hurriedly because she had just received word that her father was very ill in Santa Monica and she was rushing there to be with him. When she made that statement she knew that her father had been dead two years.

A police officer testified that appellant told him, when Peck was not present, that Peek and a man whom he introduced to her as George McCormick, a millionaire, were in her hotel room betting on horse races, and Peek gave her the checks to cash. He testified further that Peck told him, in the presence of appellant, that Peck had written the checks at the suggestion of appellant; that she told him to make them in the name of H. L. Hunt and sign the name “George McCormick;” that she told Peck the checks were to be given to bookmakers; that appellant and Peek were the only ones present in her hotel room when Peck wrote the checks and gave them to her; that he (the officer) then asked her to tell what part she took in passing the checks, and she said she had never seen Peck write a check and that she had been advised by her counsel not to discuss anything.

When she was arrested on August 14, 1942, she was at the railroad station preparatory to leaving for the Bast. Approximately two weeks before the trial she repaid the money she received upon the checks.

Appellant testified in substance as follows: She used the name, Mrs. H. L. Hunt, at the hotel because she had been there under that name about twelve years ago when she was married to H. L. Hunt. At other places she was known under the names of Lovejoy, Smith, Davenport and Slattery. On July 7, 1942, she saw Peck in the hotel lobby with a man whom he introduced to her as George McCormick, a very wealthy man from San Francisco. Peek asked if she knew where they could get a bookmaker and, when she said she did not know, he asked if they could use the telephone in her room. She took them to her room, remained there about five minutes, and left them in her room while she went to a beauty parlor. She returned to her room within one-half hour and, as she entered her room, Peck had a check for $30 in his hand, told her they were going to play the races and asked if she would cash a cheek for McCormick at Sloane’s when [454]*454she made a purchase there. McCormick apologized for being short of money, but said the check was all right, and then she went to Sloane’s, made a purchase and cashed the check. She returned about 11 a. m. and handed the money to McCormick. She saw Peck and McCormick again on July 12, 1942, in the hotel lobby and she permitted them to use her telephone again, but she remained away from her room. When she returned to her room they said they had been playing the races and that McCormick had lost considerable money, McCormick asked her if she could get a check cashed for him and she took the check for $65, went to the lobby, did not cash the check, returned and handed $65 to him from her own money. She left them again in her room, went to the lobby again, and when she returned they had gone. She cashed the $65 check at the hotel about 8:30 o’clock that evening and then left the hotel. She registered as Delphine Slattery at an apartment house that night, and the next day she registered at the Miramar Hotel under the name of Davenport. She left the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel to get away from Peck who had been bothering her by asking her to "raise money for him.” He had also "hounded” her for money when she was at the Huntington Hotel. She had tried to help him several times by raising money for him when he was in trouble. When she was living at the Beverly Hills Hotel (not Beverly-Wilshire) prior to cashing the two checks above mentioned, she cashed a cheek for $35 at that hotel on July 5, 1942, drawn on a bank at Santa Barbara, payable to "L. H. Hunt” (not H. L.) and signed "Albert McKay,” which check Peek gave to her as her winnings from a bet on a horse race. The hotel owner did not notify her the check came back. The night she left the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, after cashing the $65 check, she and Peek left in a taxicab, stopped in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Peek went in and paid to the hotel the $35 which it had paid to appellant when she cashed the "Albert McKay” check.* She became acquainted with Peck about two years previously when she obtained race information from him. She knew when she cashed the checks that he was a race track tout.

Peck testified in substance as follows: He had known appellant four years. On July 7, 1942, he was with her in her room at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel and she had a book of blank checks from the Fresno bank. She said she wanted to go East to see her daughter who was about to give birth to a [455]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 P.2d 105, 59 Cal. App. 2d 451, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-slattery-calctapp-1943.