IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE FILED
MAY 1997 SESSION
November 6, 1997
Cecil W. Crowson
Appellate Court Clerk
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
) C.C.A. No. 01C01-9604-CC-00151
Appellee, )
) Dickson County
V. )
) Honorable Leonard W. Martin, Judge
)
DOROTHY SHELDON, ) (Forgery)
)
Appellant. )
OPINION CONCURRING IN RESULTS
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately however
because I have reached the conclusion that venue is proper in this case through a
somewhat different rationale than that expressed in the majority opinion.
The indictment in the instant case provides:
The Grand Jurors for the State of Tennessee, duly elected, impaneled,
sworn, and charged to inquire in and for the body of the County of
Dickson, in the State aforesaid, upon their oaths, present: Than
DOROTHY SHELTON, A/K/A VIRGINIA SHELDON, A/K/A DOROTHY
SPANN, A/K/A VICTORIA SPANN, heretofore, to-wit; on or about the 10th
day of August, 1993, and prior to the finding of this Indictment, in the
County of Dickson aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, and with intent to
defraud Tennessee Credit Corporation, Renee Reeves, Agent and
Victoria D. Spann of the sum of nine hundred seventy ($970.00) dollars,
did forge and make, without the authorization of the said Tennessee
Credit Corporation, Renee Reeves, Agent and Victoria D. Spann, a
certain paper writing, to-wit: a Retail Installment Contract and Security
Agreement, so that the said paper writing purported to bear the signature
of the said Victoria D. Spann as drawer, in violation of T.C.A. 39-14-114,
all of which is against the peace and dignity of the State of Tennessee.
Thus, Appellant was charged with “making” forged documents to wit: a retail
sales contract and a security agreement. The proof showed that those document
were prepared in Dickson County based on false information submitted by Appellant
who later signed the documents in Humphreys County. The majority concludes that
the clerk at Leader Furniture Company who filled out the credit application became
the unwitting agent of Appellant, and that it was through this agent that the mental
element of forgery was committed in Dickson County. In my view however, the
making of the documents in Dickson County by an innocent agent based on the
false information submitted by Appellant constituted part of the actus reus of the
offense as charged in the indictment, and this action is sufficient to establish venue
in Dickson County.
For these reasons I concur in the result reached by the Court.
____________________________________
JERRY L. SMITH, JUDGE
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