People v. Di Ryana

The defendants were convicted of forgery. They moved for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, which motions were denied. From the judgment and from the order denying their motion for a new trial defendants prosecute this appeal.

The indictment alleges that the defendants committed the crime of forgery, “by falsely and fraudulently forging and counterfeiting the handwriting of Pasquale Solimena to a certain instrument in writing for the payment of money,” which instrument was an ordinary form of proof of loss used by insurance companies. The document is as follows:

The evidence shows that there was also forged by the defendants an assignment of the interest in the claim of Solimena Bros, under the policy of insurance to one of the defendants. This assignment was presented to the Hamburg- . Bremen Insurance Company, with the forged instrument set forth in the indictment, and thereupon the insurance company paid the defendants the insurance money, amounting to $1,000. The charge of forgery here, however, is based on the claim of loss alone.

The instrument set forth in the indictment is not one of those specifically enumerated in section 470 of the Penal Code which may be the…