People v. Brown
Decision Date | 18 April 1977 |
Docket Number | No. 27279,27279 |
Citation | 562 P.2d 754,193 Colo. 120 |
Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Stanley BROWN, Defendant-Appellee. |
Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Nolan L. Brown, Dist. Atty., Joseph Mackey, Deputy Dist. Atty., Golden, for plaintiff-appellant.
Rollie R. Rogers, Colorado State Public Defender, James F. Dumas, Jr., Chief Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Michael L. Bender, Deputy State Public Defender, Golden, for defendant-appellee.
Following a preliminary hearing, the trial court dismissed second degree forgery 1 and criminal impersonation 2 counts which had been filed against the defendant. The People appeal. We reverse.
Thirteen numbered five-dollar gift certificates were stolen from a Colorado Springs Safeway store during a robbery. The next day, the defendant allegedly used the same thirteen five-dollar gift certificates at a Jefferson County Safeway store to purchase merchandise and groceries.
The gift certificates had blank spaces labeled 'For' and 'From' which had not been filled in. The Jefferson County store required the defendant to sign his name in the manager's presence on the line following the word 'For' on each certificate. The defendant signed a fictitious name to each certificate. The day following the purchases, the defendant was arrested. He admitted passing the gift certificates but denied involvement in the robbery.
'A person commits second degree forgery, if, with intent to defraud, he falsely makes, completes, alters, or utters a written instrument which . . . affect(s) a legal right . . ..' Section 18--5--103(1)(a), 3 C.R.S.1973.
The defendant's intent to defraud is amply evidenced by his use of a fictitious name on the gift certificates. Where a defendant had passed an instrument he knows to be false, the factfinder may infer an intent to defraud, particularly if the defendant enjoyed the proceeds of the passing. See Cameron v. People, 170 Colo. 504, 505, 462 P.2d 606, 607 (1969) ( ), and the cases there cited.
The defendant argues, however, that he did not Falsely make, complete, alter, or utter the gift certificates. He claims that, since the certificates were valid without his signature, his use of the false signature did not supply the requirement that the act be done 'falsely.'
This court has held, however, that where a defendant finds a valid money order with the payee space left blank, then fills in his own name and cashes it, his action constitutes 'alteration' of the instrument for purposes of the forgery statute. People v. Pool, 185 Colo. 131, 522 P.2d 102 (1974) ( ). The present case is analytically very similar to the Pool case. Here the defendant claims that insertion of a name was not essential to the validity of the certificates. From this he concludes that one who thus inserts a false name does not 'make, complete, alter or utter' the certificate. In Pool, insertion of the name in the payee blank was nonessential. 4 Yet, this court held that the insertion constituted an alteration. Similarly, the defendant's act of inserting a fictitious name in the 'For' blank constituted an alteration. Where any material portion of the instrument, including a name or signature, is fictitious, a forgery conviction may be sustained. Nahler v. People, 159 Colo. 20, 409 P.2d 508 (1966). Cf. United States v. Tasher, 453 F.2d 244 (10th Cir. 1972) ( ). Here the alteration was material because without the fictitious name inserted, the store would not have accepted the certificates.
The final element of second degree forgery is likewise present, since the falsified instrument affects a legal right. Safeway was obligated to deliver property of retail value equivalent to the face value of the gift certificates. Certificates for the delivery of property are instruments susceptible to forgery. Carney v. United States, 163 F.2d 784 (9th Cir. 1947), Cert. denied, 332 U.S. 824, 68 S.Ct. 165, 92 L.Ed. 400 (1947) (gas rationing coupons).
A prima facie case of second degree forgery was shown, and the trial court erred in dismissing that count.
The statute, insofar as applicable, defines criminal impersonation as assuming a false or fictitious identity or capacity, and in that identity or capacity, doing any act with intent to unlawfully gain a benefit or injure or defraud another. Section 18--5--113, C.R.S.1973.
The defendant admits the first element, I.e., that he assumed a false identity when redeeming the gift certificates. He claims, however, that there was no prima facie showing of the second element.
The second element of criminal impersonation is an act with intent unlawfully to gain a benefit or to defraud another. The act requirement is...
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People v. Rubanowitz
...a forged instrument must be established under the provisions of the present statute was assumed, if not decided, in People v. Brown, 193 Colo. 120, 562 P.2d 754 (1977). The People argue that the present statute permits a conviction of forgery based on proof that a valid instrument was passe......
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People v. Liggett
...fact finder may infer an intent to defraud, particularly if the defendant enjoyed the proceeds from the instrument. People v. Brown, 193 Colo. 120, 562 P.2d 754 (1977). Here, defendant cashed a forged check, claiming his employer gave it to him. However, his employer denied issuing the chec......
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People v. Cunefare
...The fact finder may infer the intent to defraud where the defendant passed an instrument he knows to be false. People v. Brown, 193 Colo. 120, 122, 562 P.2d 754, 755 (1977). Where any material portion of the instrument, including the name or signature, is fictitious a forgery conviction may......
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Court Of Appeals Of Va. Samuel C. Asinugo v. Commonwealth Of Va.
...a forgery conviction may be sustained.'" Rodriquez, 50 Va. App. at 672, 653 S.E.2d at 299 (emphasis added) (quoting Colorado v. Brown, 562 P.2d 754, 755 (Colo. 1977)). On brief and at oral argument before this Court, appellant essentially argued that his names of Samuel Asinugo and Michael ......
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Opinions
...the factfinder may infer an intent to defraud, particularly if the [individual] enjoyed the proceeds of the passing. People v. Brown, 562 P.2d 754, 755 (Colo. 1977). In this the intent to defraud can be inferred. Barringer committed forgery by signing Ciancio's name to the settlement docume......
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Opinions
...the factfinder may infer an intent to defraud, particularly if the [individual] enjoyed the proceeds of the passing. People v. Brown, 562 P.2d 754, 755 (Colo. 1977). In this the intent to defraud can be inferred. Barringer committed forgery by signing Ciancio's name to the settlement docume......