573 S.W.2d 813 - Armstrong v. State

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 2002

8 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

¶1 OPINION

DALLY, Judge.

¶2 This is an appeal from a conviction for passing a forged check; the punishment, enhanced by two prior felony convictions, is imprisonment for life.

¶3 *814 Appellant contends that there is a fatal variance between the check set out in the indictment according to its tenor and alleged to be a forgery and the check introduced into evidence by the State. The check which appears in the indictment bears the date “2/19/74” and the bank transit number “88-135.” The check which was introduced into evidence bears the date “12/19/74” and the bank transit number “88-1135.”

¶4 Where the instrument alleged to be forged is set out in the indictment according to its tenor, the writing offered in evidence must conform thereto with almost minute precision. Williams v. State, 164 Tex.Cr.R. 545, 301 S.W.2d 107 (1962); Barton v. State, 172 Tex.Cr.R. 600, 361 S.W.2d 716 (1962); Pyor v. State, 88 Tex.Cr.R. 211, 225 S.W. 374 (1921). See also 3 Branch’s Penal Code, Sec. 1588 (2d ed. 1956). The strictest proof is required, and this is furnished only by an exact copy. Payne v. State, 391 S.W.2d 53 (Tex.Cr.App.1965); Morales v. State, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 462, 329 S.W.2d 283 (1959); Strong v. State, 143 Tex.Cr.R. 641, 160 S.W.2d 923 (1942); Hurd v. State, 99 Tex.Cr.R. 388, 269 S.W. 439 (1925).

¶5 We hold that the check introduced into evidence in this case does not sufficiently conform to the check set out in the indictment. Although appellant did not object to the admission of the check offered in evidence, the variance is fatal to the conviction. Payne v. State, supra.

¶6 The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.