Strickland v. State

• Decision Date: 15 September 1978
• Citation: 575 S.W.2d 957
• Parties: Annie Norene STRICKLAND, Appellant, v. STATE of Tennessee, Appellee. 575 S.W.2d 957
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 957

575 S.W.2d 957

Annie Norene STRICKLAND, Appellant, v. STATE of Tennessee, Appellee.

575 S.W.2d 957

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee.

Sept. 15, 1978 Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court Dec. 29, 1978.

Charles E. Baucum, Memphis, for appellant.

Brooks McLemore, Jr., Atty. Gen., Richard S. Maxwell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, Thomas D. Henderson and A. J. Archibald, Asst. Dist. Attys. Gen., Memphis, for appellee.

OPINION

DWYER, Presiding Judge.

This appeal in the nature of a writ of error flows from the conviction of the appellant by a jury for committing the offense of uttering forged papers under the value of $100, T.C.A. 39-1704, with resulting confinement in the Shelby County Jail for eleven months and twenty-nine days.

There are two assignments of error. In the first assignment the appellant contends the court erred in denying her motion for a mistrial after a Memphis police officer testifying for the State made the following statement, "a group of five Bureau of Identification Police Department" photographs. It is his urging that this statement conveyed to the jury that she had a prior police record and served only to prejudice the jury. The second assignment of error which attacks the sufficiency of the evidence prompts our summarization of that evidence as found from our review of this record.

The records of the South Memphis Medical Association, a clinic located in the City of Memphis, reflects that a Mrs. Elizabeth Nunley and her two and one-half year old daughter were treated in that clinic on October 22, 1976. The fee prescribed by the treating physician was $16 as to each. This fee was paid on that date by a check made out to the Association as payment in the amount of $32. The signature of the maker of the check was Elizabeth T. Nunley. On or around November 18, 1976, Mrs. Elizabeth Nunley was going through her bank statement when she noticed several checks were not made out by her and had her forged signature thereon. She also noticed that some of the checks were presented in places where she had never been. A prompt call by Mrs. Nunley to her bank brought about a conference with an official of that bank resulting in an affidavit by Mrs. Nunley that the check to the South Memphis Medical Association with her signature was a forgery. Mrs. Nunley at that time told the bank official that she kept her checkbook near her telephone, and therefore, that she suspected a female known to her as Marsha Appleby who had been in her apartment on several occasions to use the telephone. A complaint was made by the bank official to the Memphis Police Department and a Sergeant Maxie hearing the name Appleby checked files kept in that department and uncovered a photograph of the appellant. The sergeant then took this photograph with others to the South Memphis Medical Association Clinic, and the treating physician, a Dr. Roy Dement, identified the picture of appellant as the lady he treated on October 22, 1976, at the clinic, and who identified herself as Mrs. Elizabeth T. Nunley. The receptionist at the clinic identified the appellant at the trial as the person who was with her daughter and was treated at the clinic on October 22, 1976, and had identified herself as Elizabeth Nunley.

At the trial Mrs. Nunley identified the appellant as the female who used her telephone, had been in her apartment, and had been her baby-sitter as the person she knew as Mrs. Appleby.

The appellant did not testify and offered no proof.

The offense of uttering forged papers, T.C.A. 39-1704, consists of: (1) actual knowledge that the instrument is false; (2) representations, either direct or implied, that the instrument is genuine; and (3) intent to defraud. Wofford v. State, 210 Tenn. 267, 358 S.W.2d 302 (Tenn.1962); Keebler v. State, 3 Tenn.Cr.App. 447, 463 S.W.2d 151 (1970). It is the appellant's contention that there is no evidence that she passed the check to anyone in the clinic. Hence, there is no proof to sustain the verdict in that the evidence does not reflect an uttering of the forged instrument by the appellant. She then contends that the verdict is based upon speculation and not upon the evidence. Clancy v. State, 521 S.W.2d 780 (Tenn.1975).

We think the evidence is sufficient to sustain the verdict: (1) Mrs. Nunley listed the appellant as a suspect to having taken her checks and knew her by the name of Appleby; (2) Mrs. Nunley identified the appellant as the person she knew to be Mrs. Appleby; (3) the appellant was positively identified by the receptionist at the South Memphis Medical...