WARREN SCARBOROUGH, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Warren Scarborough was convicted of forgery and uttering a forged check. The Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, though it upheld the indictment and the admissibility of the check into evidence.
The court held that (1) the omission of 'feloniously' from the indictment does not invalidate it under Section 6065 of Florida's Revised General Statutes; (2) the check was properly admitted because 'written' and 'writing' under Section 4674 include printed material; and (3) the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, requiring reversal.
“It shall not be necessary to allege in an indictment that the offense charged is a felony, or felonious or done feloniously, nor shall any indictment or complaint be quashed or deemed invalid by reason of the omission of the words 'felony,' 'felonious' or 'feloniously.'”
Establishes that the omission of 'feloniously' from the indictment does not render it defective under Florida statutory law.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceScarborough was indicted for unlawfully forging and counterfeiting a check for money. The check introduced as evidence was partly printed and partly w…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Forgery cases and more on FLexlaw
Browne, C. J.
The assignments upon which plaintiff in error relies for reversal are: (1) Defects in the indictment; (2) the admission in evidence of the check alleged to have been forged and uttered; (3) the insufficiency of the testimony to sustain the verdict.
1. The only attack upon the indictment that we can consider, is the omission of the word “feloniously” from each count therein.
Section 6065, Revised General Statutes, 1920, provides: “It shall not be necessary to allege in an indictment that the offense charged is a felony, or felonious or done feloniously, nor shall any indictment or complaint be quashed or deemed invalid by reason of the omission of the words ‘felony,’ ‘felonious’ or ‘feloniously.’ ” See also Baldwin v. State, 46 Fla. 115, 35 South. Rep. 220; McCaskill v. State, 55 Fla. 117, 45 South. Rep. 843.
2. There is no merit in the contention that the check alleged to have been forged should not have been admitted in evidence on the ground of a variance between it and the one describd in the indictment. The objection to its admissibility was because “the indictment says ‘a certain check in writing on paper;’ and this check is not in writing, the most part of it is in print.”
The indictment charged that the accused “did unlawfully; falsely forge and counterfeit a certain check for money in writing on paper.” The cheek introduced in evidence over the objection of the defendant was partly printed and partly written.
Section 4674, Revised General Statutes of Florida, 1920, in relation to negotiable instruments provides that, “ ‘Written’ includes printed and ‘writing’ includes print.”
The New Standard Dictionary gives as one of the definitions of writing, “A written instrument: words, or characters that stand for words or ideas, traced on some substance, as paper, wood, or stone, with, an implement, as a pen, pencil, or brush, or by some other device, as stamping, printing or engraving.” This definition is sustained by the ease of Benson v. McMahon, 127 U. S. 457, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1340, where the subject is fully discussed, and we content ourselves with one citation therefrom: 1 ‘ The great increase in the use of printing for all forms of instruments, such as deeds, bonds, tickets, tokens for the payment of goods, etc., have seemed to demand that where, either by the common law or by statute, such instruments are required to be in writing the term ‘writing’ should be held to include printing as well as script. ’ ’
(3) A careful review and consideration of the evidence satisfies us that it is not sufficient to support the verdict, and for that reason the jurgment is reversed.
Tayloe, Whitfield, Ellis and West, J. J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
State v. Escobedo, 404 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)…. Lafave & A. Scott, Criminal Law 671 (1972); R. Perkins, Criminal Law 345 (2d ed. 1969). Moreover, the term “writing” as used here is not limited to handwriting but also includes typewriting, printing, stamping, and engraving. Scarborough v. State, 82 Fla. 304, 89 So. 805 (1921); R. Perkins, Criminal Law 342 (2d ed. 1969). Second, “the instrument forged must be upon its face, were it genuine, of some apparent legal efficacy. .. . ” King v. State, 43 Fla. 211, 31 So. 254 (1901) (syllabus by court, no. 2).…
Authorities Cited
- Benson v. McMAHON, 127 U.S. 457 (U.S. 1888)
- Emery Baldwin and Albert Tillman v. State, 46 Fla. 115 (Fla. 1903)
- McCaskill v. State, 55 Fla. 117 (Fla. 1908)