Hollander

The appellant, Herman Hollander, was convicted by a jury of three violations of section 476a of the Penal Code, that is, of issuing fictitious cheeks. He appeals from the judgment of conviction.

The evidence shows that on October 2, 1957, the appellant purchased various articles from a department store in San Francisco. He offered, in payment for these articles, three checks drawn on the Valley National Bank of Phoenix, Arizona. At various times that day the department store cashier cashed three cheeks for appellant, one for $27, one for $84 and one for $73. The department store employees became suspicious and the matter was referred to the police. Upon being questioned, appellant admitted to the officers that he had drawn the checks and that he had no account in the bank on which the checks were drawn. His explanation was that, several years prior to 1957, he had an account in the Phoenix bank and had some of its checks in his possession, and that he needed some articles of clothing and passed the checks to secure them. His only defense was that at some indefinite time in the future he intended to make the checks good.

At the trial defendant did not testify. The prosecution,…