Huntley v. State

4 S.W.3d 813, 1999 WL 681929
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 2000
Docket01-97-01205-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 4 S.W.3d 813 (Huntley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huntley v. State, 4 S.W.3d 813, 1999 WL 681929 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION ON REHEARING EN BANC

TIM TAFT, Justice.

A jury convicted James Huntley, III, of forgery, found two enhancement paragraphs true, and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. A panel of this court [814]*814reversed the conviction and reformed the trial court’s judgment to show acquittal on April 1, 1999. Rehearing en banc was granted on the State’s motion, and the April 1 opinion is withdrawn. We substitute this opinion in its stead. We address whether the evidence was legally and factually sufficient to support the conviction of forgery. We affirm.

Facts

On Sunday morning, June 8, 1997, the complainant’s purse was taken by a black male in a robbery. The complainant’s purse contained her checkbook, credit cards, and a cellular phone. The next morning, appellant attempted to cash one of the complainant’s stolen checks. He presented an identification card and a social security card, both in the name of “James Huntley, III.” The check was dated June 6, 1997, two days before the robbery, and was made payable to appellant in the amount of $465.00. The check was purportedly signed by the complainant, and it was already endorsed by appellant.

Noticing a zero balance in the complainant’s account, the bank teller told appellant she needed to get the check approved. She took the check and complainant’s signature card to her supervisor, who determined that the check was reported stolen and notified the police. It took the police about 20 minutes to arrive. Appellant waited for the teller to return during this time.

Legal Sufficiency

In his first point of error, appellant contends the evidence was legally insufficient to prove that appellant had the requisite intent to harm or defraud any person.

A. Standard of Review

We apply the usual standard for reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence. Lane v. State, 933 S.W.2d 504, 507 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). The same standard applies in both direct and circumstantial evidence cases. See Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 160 (Tex.Crim.App.1991).

B. Analysis

To prove the crime of forgery, the State was required to show that appellant, (1) with the intent to defraud or harm another, (2) passed (3) a writing (4) that purported to be the act of another (5) who did not authorize the act. See Williams v. State, 688 S.W.2d 486, 488 (Tex.Crim.App.1985); Wallace v. State, 813 S.W.2d 748, 751 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1991, no pet.). Evidence in this case showed appellant attempted to cash a check purportedly made by the complainant, who testified she did not write the check or authorize anyone to do so. Therefore, the issue is whether appellant had the intent to defraud or harm another when he passed the check.

The intent to defraud or harm another in a forgery case can be inferred if the State proves an actor has knowledge that the check is forged. Williams, 688 S.W.2d at 488. In this case, the State presented uncontroverted prima facie evidence that the check was forged: (1) the check was stolen; (2) the complainant did not write the check or authorize anyone to do so; and (3) the complainant did not know appellant or anyone who knew appellant. Thus, the only issue is whether appellant knew the check was forged. The following facts demonstrate suspicious circumstances showing appellant had this knowledge:

1. appellant is a black male who was in possession of the forged check which had been stolen less than 24 hours earlier by a black male;
2. no other stolen checks showed up after appellant’s arrest, suggesting [815]*815possible association between appellant and the robber;
3. appellant presented the forged check for cash to the issuing bank early Monday morning, when the bank first opened after the robbery, maximizing the chances that the check might be cashed if the complainant had not yet reported her checks stolen;
4. the amount of the check was $465, making it unlikely that appellant would have been given such a large check by a stranger, and yet appellant did not subpoena this person as a witness, to explain appellant’s possession of the check;
5. the check made out to appellant was dated two days before it was stolen from the complainant, and thus two days before the check could have been presented to appellant, which should have at least alerted appellant to irregularity in its issuance as a predated check; and
6. the complainant did not know appellant, making it suspicious that appellant would be given such a large check by a stranger.

Ordinarily, we would look to the reasonableness of the explanation appellant gave for his possession and presentment of the forged check. Here, any such explanation given at the crime scene is not available because of the death of the arresting officer prior to trial. However, as the State argued legitimately in closing, appellant did not subpoena as a witness the person who purportedly wrote the check payable to him. This would have provided the jury with an explanation without which the above-listed suspicious circumstances became even more suspicious and rendered appellant’s recent, personal possession of a stolen check unexplained.

There have been cases where the circumstances are suspicious enough to conclude the defendant knew the check was forged, regardless of any explanation. See, e.g., Palmer v. State, 785 S.W.2d 696, 698 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1987, no pet.) (finding defendant’s lack of any relationship with payor taken in connection with his unexplained, personal, recent possession and passing of payor’s stolen check was sufficient evidence to establish defendant’s knowledge the check was forged, for purpose of offense of passing forged writing).1 This is one of those cases.

The dissenting opinion asserts this case has no “suspicious circumstances” like those that have sustained previous forgery convictions. See Griffin v. State, 908 S.W.2d 624, 627 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1995, no pet.) (listing examples of suspicious circumstances which sustained forgery convictions). Although not identical to the specific examples listed in Griffin, the suspicious circumstances in this case, when viewed in their totality, would enable a rational jury to conclude that appellant knew the check was forged; hence, his intent to defraud or harm another could be inferred.2 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we hold the evidence is legally sufficient and the jury could have found, beyond a reason[816]*816able doubt, that appellant was guilty of forgery.

We overrule appellant’s first point of error.

Factual Sufficiency

In his second point of error, appellant contends that the evidence was factually insufficient to prove that appellant had the requisite intent to harm or defraud any person.

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Bluebook (online)
4 S.W.3d 813, 1999 WL 681929, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huntley-v-state-texapp-2000.