41 Cal. App. 2d 143 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1940
The defendant was charged with the crime of grand theft. (Pen. Code, sec. 484.) The charge was contained in an information filed by the district attorney. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty. The jury returned a verdict against him. He made a motion for a new trial. The motion was denied. He has appealed from the judgment and from the order denying him a new trial.
It was the theory of the district attorney that the defendant represented to the prosecuting witness, E. Werner, that the defendant owned some race horses that had been attached for a feed bill amounting to $300, and that if the bill was not paid said horses would be sold and he would lose them; that for the purpose of paying said feed bill he desired to borrow $300; that acting on such representation E. Werner loaned defendant the sum of $300; that in truth and in fact defendant did not owe a feed bill on any horses; and that the money has never been repaid.
The defendant asserts that the specific charge against him was, as shown above, the offense of obtaining money under false pretenses. But continuing, the defendant further asserts the prosecution introduced no testimony which corroborated the testimony of the complaining witness and that such corroboration was essential to sustain the judgment. (People v. Edwards, 133 Cal. App. 335 [24 Pac. (2d) 183], and People v. Carter, 131 Cal. App. 177 [21 Pac. (2d) 129].) The Attorney-General does not question the rule but he calls
The defendant complains because the trial court admitted the evidence concerning Unparallel. He asserts it was an instance of receiving evidence of other wrongful acts or crimes. We think not. It was distinctly a part of the offense on trial.
Finally the defendant contends the trial court erroneously allowed the district attorney “ ... to introduce evidence showing that over a period of time the complaining witness, Werner, had given to Brennan and Wagner considerable sums of money to be placed as bets on horse races. That as a result of these moneys given to bet the complaining witness lost between $7000 and $8000.” That Werner testified he lost $8,000 through Brennan is true. But he testified that he never bet more than $2 on a race. He did not testify that his loss of $8,000 was composed of bets in whole or in part.
The judgment and order appealed from are affirmed.
Nourse, P. J., and Spence, J., concurred.
A petition for a rehearing of this cause was denied by the District Court of Appeal on October 26, 1940.