Case Name: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John R. COOK, Defendant-Appellant
Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico
Jurisdiction: New Mexico
Decision Date: 1979-05-24
Citations: 93 N.M. 91
Docket Number: No. 3800
Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John R. COOK, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: ANDREWS, J., concurs.
Reporter: New Mexico Reports
Volume: 93
Pages: 91–94

Head Matter:
596 P.2d 860
STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John R. COOK, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 3800.
Court of Appeals of New Mexico.
May 24, 1979.
Donald C. Schutte, Albuquerque, for defendant-appellant.
Jeff Bingaman, Atty. Gen., Sammy Lawrence Pacheco, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
OPINION
HENDLEY, Judge.
Defendant appeals his conviction of ten counts of forgery contrary to § 30-16-10, N.M.S.A.1978. His first point for reversal is dispositive — whether under the facts he could be convicted of forgery. We reverse.
Facts
Defendant was indicted by the Bernalillo County Grand Jury on ten counts of forgery contrary to § 30-16-10, supra, or in the alternative, on ten counts of issuing worthless checks contrary to § 30-36-4, N.M.S.A. 1978. At the close of all the evidence, the State elected to send only the forgery counts to the jury. Defendant objected and renewed his motion for a directed verdict. The jury found defendant guilty on all counts.
Defendant opened a checking account at Republic Bank in Albuquerque under the name of John R. Cook. He signed the signature card under the same name and produced a New Mexico driver's license as proof of identification. He gave his birth-date as January 20, 1958, and listed the same social security number as that on his military identification card under the name of John R. Cook. He gave a false address and telephone number, the latter belonging to a woman, Alice Smith, who did not know defendant and did not give him permission to use her number.
Through the testimony of a Mrs. Cook, the State established that she had a son, John R. Cook, who was born January 20, 1958, and died January 22, 1958. An FBI agent, to whom defendant had spoken, testified that defendant had told him that he previously had been in the military under a different name, but had left the service under questionable circumstances. He had wished to reenlist and, therefore, went to the newspaper files and reviewed infant deaths for the year in which he was born. He had found the name John R. Cook, obtained a birth certificate, entered the military and obtained an identification card in that name.
The vice president of Republic Bank testified that "Cook" had set up a checking account with $50.00, withdrew $45.00, and had seven overdraft checks in the amount of $6,000. The evidence also showed that the $6,000 overdraft took the form of ten separate transactions wherein defendant wrote checks to several businesses in return for which he received valuable merchandise. The checks were returned to the businesses for insufficient funds.
Forgery
In Rapp v. State, 274 So.2d 18 (Fla.App.1973) the defendant opened a checking account in the name of another and wrote several checks on that account signing the assumed name. The question confronting that court was "whether one who opens a checking account under an assumed name commits the crime of forgery The court found that forgery may exist when an assumed or fictitious name is used when it is shown that the name was used with the intent to defraud.
However, the court found that the signing of a fictitious name is not forgery if the signer does not intend that the signature be taken as the genuine signature of the person owning the assumed name. Forgery, then, is not committed where a person assumes a name and obtains goods by signing that name to checks "so long as the check purports to be the very act of the person issuing it and not the act of another person."
In Smith v. State, 379 S.W.2d 326 (Tex.Crim.App.1964) defendant, using an assumed name, acquired a driver's license and, using the license as identification, opened a checking account under the assumed name. He then wrote several checks on the account, some of which were returned for insufficient funds. The court, in citing Texas precedent, found that defendant had not committed forgery since the act of passing the checks was his own act and did not purport to be that of another. See also Young v. State, 529 S.W.2d 542 (Tex.Crim.App.1975).
Section 30-16-10, supra, defines forgery as:
A. falsely making or altering any signature to, or any part of, any writing purporting to have any legal efficacy with intent to injure or defraud; or
B. knowingly issuing or transferring a forged writing with intent to injure or defraud.
‡
Although the New Mexico statute reads somewhat differently than do - the Florida and Texas statutes, the effect on the case at hand is the same. Here, defendant assumed the name and identity of John R. Cook. He went into the military. and obtained identification under his assumed name. As in the above cases, he used the identification to open a checking account. Defendant then wrote and signed checks under his assumed name and tendered them to various stores in return for valuable merchandise. The acts did not purport to be those of another. Defendant did not commit forgery.
The State erred in electing to send the forgery counts to the jury, since legally no forgery could have been committed. Defendant's conviction of ten counts of forgery is reversed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
ANDREWS, J., concurs.
SUTIN, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.