People v. Dole

Citations

• 122 Cal. 486
• 55 P. 581
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 618

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Forgery—Raising of Check—Demurrer to Information.—An information charging a defendant with the crime of forgery in raising a certified check, and passing it with knowledge of its fictitious character upon a corporation named, with intent to defraud it, though not showing that the bank upon which the check was drawn had any legal existence, or that the person certifying it had authority to certify the same, sufficiently ■ charges the forgery of an uncertified check, and the utterance thereof, and is not subject to demurrer for not showing that the check was certified.</p> <p>Id.—Forged Indorsements—Single Offense.—The information does not charge more than one offense, because charging that after raising the check, the defendant forged certain indorsements thereon with the single intent to defraud the same corporation.</p> <p>Id.—Charge not Well Laid.—A charge of forged indorsements of a check is not well laid where the words “falsely and feloniously’’ are omitted, and there is nothing to negative the authority of the defendant to make the indorsements.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence—Oross-examinatiom of Defendant.—A defendant testifying in his own behalf is put upon the same plane with other witnesses, so far as relates to calling out upon cross-examination any fact which the jury may deem inconsistent with his direct testimony, and where he has testified in chief that he had won the forged check in a game of poker, he may be asked on cross-examination whether he stated how he came into possession of the check to the arresting officer, or to the officers in whose custody he was placed, or to the person who informed him of the particulars of the charge against him.</p> <p>Id.—Silence of Defendant—Question for Jury.—The silence of the defendant under accusation of crime cannot be proved against him, as a general rule, as a circumstance tending to show guilt; hut his silence in not having before stated an explanation of his possession of a forged check, testified t