State v. Elliott

Citations

• 69 Wash. 62
• 124 P. 212
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 845

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Former Jeopardy—Separate Trial. Where a plea of- not guilty and of former jeopardy are entered before the commencement of the trial, it is discretionary to direct that they be tried together.</p> <p>Same—Identity of Offenses. A conviction for obtaining money under false pretenses; the gist of the offense resting primarily in securing credit for a false name, cannot be pleaded in bar of a prosecution for the forgery of an insurance policy, which was incidental to the other offense and arose out of the same transaction; since the crimes are separate and distinct, the false name being the essence of the first, and the uttering of spurious security, of the second.</p> <p>Forgery—Instructions. An instruction that the mere uttering of a forged instrument is a circumstance tending to show knowledge of its falsity, is not prejudicially erroneous when immediately explained to mean that if the jury find that if it was forged and uttered by the defendant or his codefendant with his assistance, then the jury could consider these facts in determining, whether the defendant knew it was forged at the time it was uttered.</p>