{ "id": 2742490, "name": "STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leon COWLEY, Defendant-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "State v. Cowley", "decision_date": "1968-03-01", "docket_number": "No. 82", "first_page": "49", "last_page": "52", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "79 N.M. 49" }, { "type": "parallel", "cite": "439 P.2d 567" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.M. Ct. App.", "id": 9025, "name": "Court of Appeals of New Mexico" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 52, "name_long": "New Mexico", "name": "N.M." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "111 S.E. 601", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.", "year": 1922, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "90 W.Va. 632", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "W. Va.", "case_ids": [ 8633850 ], "year": 1922, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/w-va/90/0632-01" ] }, { "cite": "98 S.W. 1", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.", "year": 1906, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "200 Mo. 29", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Mo.", "case_ids": [ 2273707 ], "year": 1906, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/mo/200/0029-01" ] }, { "cite": "29 S.W.2d 255", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.2d", "year": 1930, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "161 Tenn. 177", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Tenn.", "case_ids": [ 8533087 ], "year": 1930, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/tenn/161/0177-01" ] }, { "cite": "84 Pac. 525", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "P.", "year": 1906, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "13 N.M. 312", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.M.", "case_ids": [ 4676098 ], "year": 1906, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nm/13/0312-01" ] }, { "cite": "26 A.L.R. 1053", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R.", "year": 1922, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "202 P. 1042", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "P.", "case_ids": [ 8738921 ], "year": 1922, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/okla-crim/20/0373-01" ] }, { "cite": "165 S.W.2d 957", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.W.2d", "year": 1942, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "292 Ky. 234", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ky.", "case_ids": [ 2760553 ], "year": 1942, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ky/292/0234-01" ] }, { "cite": "15 L.Ed.2d 77", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "L. Ed. 2d", "year": 1942, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "86 S.Ct. 77", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "S. Ct.", "year": 1942, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "382 U.S. 834", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "U.S.", "case_ids": [ 6235137, 6233926, 6234827, 6233006, 6234512, 6233682, 6233306 ], "year": 1942, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/us/382/0834-07", "/us/382/0834-04", "/us/382/0834-06", "/us/382/0834-01", "/us/382/0834-05", "/us/382/0834-03", "/us/382/0834-02" ] }, { "cite": "42 Cal.Rptr. 527", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Cal. Rptr.", "year": 1965, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "232 Cal.App.2d 153", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Cal. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2151673 ], "year": 1965, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/cal-app-2d/232/0153-01" ] }, { "cite": "274 P.2d 479", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "P.2d", "year": 1954, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "127 Cal.App.2d 712", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Cal. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2224580 ], "year": 1954, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/cal-app-2d/127/0712-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 463, "char_count": 7375, "ocr_confidence": 0.668, "pagerank": { "raw": 3.7251678797793786e-07, "percentile": 0.8940384169115652 }, "sha256": "bd82c8370b0bdfb475ccc2695d35b8691d1d6f4867335189ce6613c392d33be9", "simhash": "1:116d4d2a05494bda", "word_count": 1247 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T18:21:18.946358+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "OMAN and ARMIJO, JJ., concur.\u2019" ], "parties": [ "STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leon COWLEY, Defendant-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "OPINION\nSPIESS, Chief Judge.\nDefendant, Leon Cowley, was convicted-on three counts of the crime of' forgery.He has appealed. The presence of the requisite intent to injure or defraud is not an issue on appeal. He contends in substance (1) that the facts upon which the verdicts were based do not constitute the crime of forgery; (2) that if any offense was committed, conviction should have been for the misdemeanor \u201cmisuse of credit cards\u201d, \u00a7 40-21-52, N.M.S.A., 1953; (3) that the statute, \u00a7 40A-16-9, N.M.S.A., 1953, under which defendant was charged and convicted is unconstitutional on the ground of uncertainty.\nThese contentions, in our opinion, are without merit and the conviction should be affirmed.\nThe evidence material to this appeal and upon which the conviction on the first count was based follows. Defendant was the operator of a motor vehicle service station. On December 24th, 1965, a customer purchased a quantity of gasoline at the station for the sum of $2.95. In making the purchase the customer used an oil company credit card. The quantity of gasoline purchased and the purchase price of $2.95 were entered upon an invoice which was signed by the customer. A copy of the invoice reflecting the entries was delivered to the customer, the original was retained by the filling station operator.\nThereafter and without the customer\u2019s consent or authority certain items which had not been purchased by him were entered upon the original invoice and the total charge changed from $2.95 to $22.95.\nThe same factual situation except as to amounts, items charged and identity of the customer is present as to the remaining counts upon which conviction was had.\nDefendant first argues that the crime' of forgery is not established where \u201cthe state of New Mexico\u2019s own evidence is only to the effect that defendant made false statements in a genuine document\u201d. The forgery statute, \u00a7 40A-16-9, N.M.S.A., 1953, insofar as applicable provides:\n\u201cForgery consists of:\nA. 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; QJ* ^\nTo our mind the unauthorized addition to the invoice of items not purchased by the customer and a change of the amount which the customer had directed to be charged to his account from the sum of $2.95 to $22.95 constituted an alteration of the instrument.\nThe \u201cfalse statements\u201d as defendant has termed his acts amount to altering the instrument in the sense in which the word is itsed in the statute, \u00a7 40A-16-9, supra.\nContrary to defendant\u2019s view it appears to be clear from the language of the statute that the unauthorized alteration of a genuine instrument, of the kind contemplated by the statute, with the requisite fraudulent intent, is forgery under \u00a7 40A-16-9, supra. See: People v. Nesseth, 127 Cal.App.2d 712, 274 P.2d 479, (1954); Buck v. Superior Court, 232 Cal.App.2d 153, 42 Cal.Rptr. 527, 11 A.L.R.3rd 1064, (1965) ; cert. denied 382 U.S. 834, 86 S.Ct. 77, 15 L.Ed.2d 77; Lincoln Bldg. & Loan Ass\u2019n v. Cohen, 292 Ky. 234, 165 S.W.2d 957, (1942); Nix v. State, 20 Okl.Cr.R. 373, 202 P. 1042, 26 A.L.R. 1053, (1922); 2 R. Anderson, Wharton\u2019s Criminal Law and Procedure, \u00a7 632.\nWe do not consider Territory v. Gutierrez, 13 N.M. 312, 84 Pac. 525, (1906), which defendant has cited to be applicable here. In the Gutierrez case a notary public was charged with forgery by the making of a certificate of acknowledgment the contents of which were in part untrue. The question presented as stated by the court is whether a notary public who makes a certificate of acknowledgment of a deed or other instrument required by law to be acknowledged, the contents of which are untrue, is guilty of falsely making a certificate which may be received as legal proof under the statute.\nIn Gutierrez the notary inserted false statements in his notarial certificate and was charged with the crime of forgery, whereas in the instant case the charge involved the fraudulent alteration of a valid instrument of another person. There is no similarity of facts between Gutierrez and the case under consideration, nor was a like statute involved.\nDefendant next contends that he was erroneously charged and tried under the forgery statute, \u00a7 40A-16-9, supra. He says that based upon the facts alleged and the proof adduced he should have been charged and tried for the misdemeanor \u201cMisuse of credit card\u201d, \u00a7 40-21-52, N.M. S.A., 1953. The material portion of this statute is as follows:\n\u201cA \u2018credit card\u2019 is an identification card issued by a business organization to a holder to permit him to purchase or obtain goods or services on the credit of the organization. It is a misdemeanor for any person to use, knowingly, for the purpose of obtaining credit, goods or services, a credit card:\nA. Which has not been issued to him and which is not used with the consent of the one to whom it has been issued; or * * * \u201d\nIt becomes apparent from a reading of this statute that it is not applicable. Defendant here was charged with falsifying an invoice or receipt so as to reflect a sale which had not occurred. He was not charged, nor do the facts show that he had obtained credit, goods or services, the elements of \u00a7 40-21-52, supra. The acts upon which this prosecution was based are clearly not within the scope of the so-called \u201ccredit card statute\u201d.\nThe rule which defendant undertakes to apply here, namely, \u201cconflicts between general and specific statutes are resolved by giving effect to the specific statute\u201d and supporting cases are inapplicable for the reason, as we have stated, that the facts upon which the prosecution was based are not those to which the specific statute (\u00a7 40-21-52, supra,) applies.\nDefendant finally attacks the validity of the forgery statute upon the ground that the phrase \u201clegal efficacy\u201d is unconstitutionally vague and uncertain. No case is cited to us nor has one been found by us where it has been held that the phrase \u201clegal efficacy\u201d as applied in a forgery statute to a writing is so vague and uncertain in meaning as to offend constitutional requirements of certainty. The phrase when applied to a writing is well understood in the law of forgery. It means an instrument which upon its face could be made the foundation of liability. Also, an instrument good and valid for the purpose for which it was created. See: Girdley v. State, 161 Tenn. 177, 29 S.W.2d 255, (1930); Nix v. State, supra; State v. Cordray, 200 Mo. 29, 98 S.W. 1, (1906); State v. Talip, 90 W.Va. 632, 111 S.E. 601, (1922).\nBishop on Criminal Law, 9th Edition, Volume 2, \u00a7 533, relating to forgery treats the phrase \u201clegal efficacy\u201d as synonymous with legal validity. See also 2 R. Anderson, Wharton\u2019s Criminal Law & Procedure, \u00a7 641. In our opinion there is no substance to the contention that the phrase \u201clegal efficacy\u201d is so uncertain or vague as to render the statute unconstitutional.\nJudgment of the district court is affirmed.\nIt is so ordered.\nOMAN and ARMIJO, JJ., concur.\u2019", "type": "majority", "author": "SPIESS, Chief Judge." } ], "attorneys": [ "J. R. Crouch, Las Cruces, for appellant.", "Boston E. Witt, Atty. Gen.,, Donald W. Miller, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for appellee." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "439 P.2d 567\nSTATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leon COWLEY, Defendant-Appellant.\nNo. 82.\nCourt of Appeals of New Mexico.\nMarch 1, 1968.\nRehearing Denied March 21, 1968.\nWrit of Certiorai\u2019i Denied April 5, 1968.\nJ. R. Crouch, Las Cruces, for appellant.\nBoston E. Witt, Atty. Gen.,, Donald W. Miller, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for appellee." }, "file_name": "0049-01", "first_page_order": 81, "last_page_order": 84 }