People v. Leonard

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment of conviction on three counts of forgery.

Facts

The basic facts are not in dispute. At the trial it was proved by defendant’s signed and witnessed extrajudicial admission that he wrote the checks in question without any authority from the owner of the bank account and obtained the cash therefrom for his own use. He had had four prior felony convictions which were charged and admitted prior to trial. He did not take the witness stand in his own defense. He offered only one witness, a person who was then under commitment to a state hospital as an…