Grey

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction and order denying a motion for a new trial after conviction by a jury for violation of section 470 of the Penal Code (check forgery). Defendant was charged with and admitted a prior felony conviction of forgery in Maryland in 1950.

The substance of the evidence in support of the conviction in this case is as follows: Calvin Coolidge Sandidge testified that in December 1957 he was employed by a Mr. and Mrs. Pitts as a houseman in their home in Palm Springs. About December 24, 1957, Sandidge, pursuant to defendant’s request, stole some of his employers’ personalized checks and turned them over to defendant. Defendant then forged the checks in the presence of Sandidge, making them payable to Willie West (a fictitious person) and forging the name of Zachary Pitts as drawer. After giving this testimony, Sandidge changed his testimony and stated that he himself had made the checks and that defendant was merely present in his home at the time Sandidge signed the checks. This latter testimony of Sandidge was immediately impeached by the district attorney when he proved that Sandidge had, in a preliminary hearing and in conversations with a…