Loomis

In Count 1 of an indictment the defendant was accused of violating section 548 of the Penal Code in that he unlawfully, and with intent to defraud the insurer, burned and destroyed an insured airplane. In Count 2 he was accused of violating section 556, subdivision (a), of the Insurance Code in that he unlawfully presented a fraudulent claim for loss of an insured airplane. In Count 3 he was accused of conspiracy to violate the two code sections referred to in Counts 1 and 2. In Count 4 he was accused of murder (the alleged victim was the pilot who was in the airplane when it fell and burned).

In a jury trial he was convicted on the first three counts and was acquitted on Count 4. (The judge had stated to the jury that he thought that the charge in Count 4 [murder] had not been proved.) Defendant was sentenced to state prison on each of the three counts—the sentences to run concurrently. He appeals from the “judgment of conviction and sentence,” and from the denial of his motion for a new trial.

Appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions.

Prior to 1955 the defendant, who was a former airplane pilot, had been engaged in the business of…