Winning

Charging insufficiency of the evidence, erroneous jury instructions, exclusion of evidence properly admissible, and an error in designation of the statute violated, appellants appeal from convictions in the instant case. The four appellants suffered convictions of conspiracy to commit grand theft and forgery. Appellant Reymenandt was also convicted of attempted extortion. Winning, Richards, and Johnston sustained convictions for forgery. Johnston was also found guilty of grand theft.

The convictions resulted from a sales promotion program undertaken in San Rafael, California, in 1956 and 1957. In order to stimulate sales of cars the Towne-Martin Lincoln-Mercury dealer of that city entered into a contract with a partnership composed of defendant Richards and one Joseph Baber, known as M & S (Management and Sales). The contract ran for one year or for the sale of 300 cars. The employees who participated in the program were those of the Towne-Martin agency, which together with M & S retained the right of hiring and firing.

The sales program rested upon the inducement and reward to customers for procuring other customers. If a purchaser enrolled in the program at the time of the…