People v. Nickols

• Decision Date: 21 November 1945
• Docket Number: No. 28797.,28797.
• Citation: People v. Nickols, 391 Ill. 565, 63 N.E.2d 759 (Ill. 1945)
• Parties: PEOPLE v. NICKOLS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

391 Ill. 565

63 N.E.2d 759

PEOPLE

v.NICKOLS.

No. 28797.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 21, 1945.

Error to Circuit Court, Mercer County; Leonard E. Telleen, judge.

Herbert Nickols was convicted of forgery, and he brings error.

Reversed.

Herbert Nickols, pro se.

George F. Barrett, Atty. Gen., and George O. Hebel, State's Atty., of Aledo, for the People.

SMITH, Justice.

This is a writ of error to review a judgment of the circuit court of Mercer county. The record contains only a transcript of the common-law record. Plaintiff in error appears pro se.

The record discloses that on April 10, 1941, plaintiff in error Herbert Nickols, was indicted by the grand jury of Mercer county for the crime of forgery. The instrument alleged to have been forged was set out in the indictment. It purported to be an instrument in the form of a check, drawn on the Second National Bank of Monmouth, and purported to be signed by ‘J. B. Clark.’ It was alleged in the indictment that the instrument was forged with the intent to defraud ‘J. B. Clark,’ the purported drawer.

The record further shows that when plaintiff in error was arraigned on April 11, 1941, the court appointed counsel to represent him. On April 15, 1941, he appeared in court in person and by his counsel and entered a plea of guilty to the indictment. After being admonshed as to the effect of such plea, he persisted therein, the plea was accepted and he was found guilty on his plea and sentenced to the penitentiary for the crime of forgery.

His contention in this court is that the name, ‘J. B. Clark,’ purporting to be the name of the drawer of the forged instrument, was a name he had used himself as an alias, and that he could not be convicted of forging an instrument with the intent to defraud himself. As already observed, the case is presented here on the common-law record. He has attached to his briefs what purports to be unauthenticated and uncertified copies of certain letters and documents tending to show that prior to his conviction he served a term in the penitentiary in the State of Missouri under the name of ‘Jack Clark;’ that he had been known by, and used the names of, J. B. Clark, Jack Clark and Jack B. Clark. It is obvious, of course, that such letters and documents, even though they were properly authenticated, cannot be considered on this review, as they are no part of the record and cannot be made a part of the record by plaintiff in error attaching them ot his briefs.

Plaintiff in error contends that it was incumbent upon the People to prove that there was, in fact, such a person as J. B. Clark, named in the indictment as the party defrauded. By the defendant's plea of guilty, he admitted all the facts charged in the indictment, including the existence of the person alleged to have been defruauded. It was not incumbent upon the People to offer any proof. People v. Lantz, 387 Ill. 72, 55 N.E.2d 78;People v. Denning, 372 Ill. 549, 25 N.E.2d 6;People v. Decker, 347 Ill. 258, 179 N.E. 827. Plaintiff in error having entered a plea of guilty to the crime charged in the indictment cannot now, on the common-law record, question the existence of the person alleged to have been defrauded, or claim that he himself was such person. Upon his plea of guilty it was not incumbent upon the People to offer any evidence to show the existence of the party alleged to have been defrauded, or that that party was some one other than plaintiff in error.

There is, however, an error shown by the record, which is so obvious that it cannot be overlooked. The indictment to which plaintiff in error pleaded guilty, as shown in the abstract and in the record, omitting the caption, is as follows:

‘The Grand Jurors chosen, selected and sworn, in and for the County of Mercer in the State of Illinois, in the name and by the authority of the People of the State of Illinois, upon their oaths present: That Herbert Nickols late of the County of Mercer and State aforesaid, on the 1st day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty at and within the said County of Mercer in the State of Illinois, aforesaid, feloniously, fraudulently and falsely did make, forge and counterfeit a certain check purporting to have been made and executed by one J. B. Clark for the payment of money to one Harry E. Crow, which said false, forged and counterfeited bank check is in the words and figures following, to-wit:

+---------------------------------------------+
                ¦                ¦No..........                ¦
                +---------------------------------------------¦
                ¦Second National Bank of Monmouth, Ill.       ¦
                +---------------------------------------------¦
                ¦70-625                                       ¦
                +---------------------------------------------¦
                ¦                ¦Monmouth, Ill., Oct. 1, 1940¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦Pay to the      ¦                            ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦Order of        ¦$3.93/100                   ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦Three and 93/100¦Dollars                     ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦For             ¦J. B. Clark                 ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦Member          ¦                            ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦Federal Reserve ¦                            ¦
                +----------------+----------------------------¦
                ¦System          ¦                            ¦
                +---------------------------------------------+
                

with the intent thereby then and there to prejudice, damage and defraud the said J. B. Clark; contray to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the same People of the State of Illinois.'

It will be noted that the indictment charges the forging of a ‘check purporting to have been made and executed by one J. B. Clark for the payment of money to one Harry E. Crow.’ This averment is then followed by what is alleged to be the forged instrument according to be or, which is set out in haec verba. The instrument set out in the indictment is not a check for the payment of money to Harry E. Crow. Neither is it a check payable to bearer or to the order of any one. No payee is named therein. It is stated in the brief of defendant in error that the indictment set out in the abstract inadvertently omitted the name of Harry E. Crow, as payee in the instrument. It is further stated that the payee's name does appear in the original indictment. This statement is not justified by the record. No payee's name appears in the instrument set out in the indictment as shown, either in the abstract, or in the transcript of the record. We are bound, of course, by the record. We cannot accept the statement of counsel in...