Case Name: ARTHUR v. THE STATE (three cases)
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1968-09-16
Citations: 118 Ga. App. 350
Docket Number: 43852, 43879, 43880
Parties: ARTHUR v. THE STATE (three cases).
Judges: Bell, P. J., and, Quillian, J., concur.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 118
Pages: 350–351

Head Matter:
43852, 43879, 43880.
ARTHUR v. THE STATE (three cases).

Opinion:
Hall, Judge.
The defendant appeals from three convictions for passing forged checks for each of which he was convicted by the jury and sentenced for two years with a recommendation for 'misdemeanor punishment, the trial court entering a sentence of 12 months on each conviction.
The alleged criminal acts were passing checks "knowing the same to have been . . . forged." Code Ann. § 26-3910. Irrespective of other issues, the circumstantial evidence presented to prove the essential ingredient of the crime, that the defendant passed the checks or knew the checks were forged, was insufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis except the guilt of the accused. Therefore the conviction must be reversed. Code § 38-109; Harris v. State, 19 Ga. App. 741 (92 SE 224); Parise v. State, 92 Ga. App. 598 (89 SE2d 673); Purser v. State, 104 Ga. App. 728, 731 (122 SE2d 749); Brown v. State, 117 Ga. App. 827 (162 SE2d 254).
Submitted September 5, 1968
Decided September 16, 1968.
Thomas M. Odom, for appellant.
Judgment reversed.
Bell, P. J., and, Quillian, J., concur.