Bafford v. State

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Appellant Bafford was convicted by a judge sitting without a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County on all counts of a three count indictment charging him with forgery, uttering, and false pretenses, respectively, arising from the cashing of a check in Baltimore County. From a verdict of guilty on all counts and a sentence of five years in the Maryland Penitentiary this appeal was taken. The appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence as to each charge, and particularly the sufficiency of the evidence that the forgery occurred in Baltimore County.

On March 25 or 26, 1963 the store manager of a supermarket in Baltimore County cashed a check in the amount of $211.24, dated March 25, 1963, drawn on the Maryland .National Bank by the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company and made payable to one Harry L. Freeze, whose address was 832 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore 30, Maryland. When presented the check bore two endorsements, purportedly that of Mr. Freeze and that of the appellant Bafford. The manager’s request for identification was fulfilled when the person presenting the check submitted a driver’s permit. The permit was Bafford’s and the number was recorded on the back of the check.

However, the manager testified that he could not identify by sight the person who gave him the check. The payee, Mr. Freeze, had never received the check although it had been mailed to him, and thus he had not executed the endorsement thereon purporting to be his. Both Freeze and Bafford lived at the address shown on the check, Bafford on the floor below Freeze. Bafford had on prior occasions handed Freeze his mail which the postman had left in the building. ⁴⁴ Sergeant Tremper of the Baltimore County Police Department investigated the case and as a result obtained a warrant for Bafford’s arrest.

Upon apprehension Bafford admitted the signature on the check looked like his handwriting, but denied cashing it. He voluntarily gave Sergeant Tremper specimens of his handwriting, and these thereafter were submitted, together with the check, to Captain Nelligan of the Baltimore City Police Department for analysis. His conclusion was that Bafford had prepared both endorsements appearing on the back of the questioned check. In addition, Sergeant Tremper investigated the driver’s permit issued to Bafford and found it bore the same number as that written on the back of the forged check by the store manager at the time of its presentation.

Though circumstantial, the evidence which the