Banks v. State

Murphy, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Appellant Banks was convicted of uttering a forged merchandise refund voucher at a court trial in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County and sentenced to five years imprisonment. 1 He contends on this appeal that because there was no proof that the voucher was forged, his conviction for uttering was improper. The refund voucher in question was introduced in evidence at the trial. It was of the customary prenumbered type and had been executed in triplicate, with a number of blank spaces completed in handwriting, viz., the store department number, the date of the voucher, the date, type and amount ($71.07) of the sale, a description of the merchandise (a lady’s coat), the reason for its return (“didn’t like style”), the name, address and signature of the customer (Carol Swisher), and the authorized signature of the store manager (which, though difficult to decipher, appeared to be Pete M. Jenkins).

The transaction occurred at the Montgomery Wards Store in Iverson Mall Shopping Center. The State adduced evidence showing that before a merchandise refund voucher could be issued, the mer ¹⁸⁴ chandise had to be returned to the department where it was purchased; that the refund voucher is then filled out in that department and the sales receipt must be attached thereto; that if the sales receipt does not accompany the transaction “then it is sent or called for a staff approval to come to the floor and okay it there”; and that there were seven staff members at the store authorized to- “personally okay” any merchandise refunds without a sales receipt. Josie Thompson, a store security officer, testified that on February 6, 1968 she observed the appellant and a woman later identified as Saundra Joyner in the Ladies Fashion Department; that appellant originally had a refund voucher and “ [h] e handed it to her and he was telling her exactly what to do with it, really, and she walked up and there was some question about whether she should do it or not, and he handed the voucher to her and she did walk up and asked the cashier for a refund”; that upon inquiry being made of her, Joyner said the merchandise to be returned was in the car; and that the cashier then told Joyner that they did not cash refunds in that department and directed her to take the voucher upstairs to the cashier. Mrs. Thompson further testified that she followed appellant and Joyner upstairs where Joyner again presented the voucher.

The cashier there called Robert Hartley, the Display Sales Manager and .staff member, who came ovfer and “asked them to go back down to the department”; that “ [o] n the way down they jumped and started running”; and that once outside of the store, Joyner threw her purse under the car at appellant’s direction, after which they were both apprehended. Joyner’s purse was found to contain identification and charge plates in the name of a Mrs. Lide. Robert Hartley testified that he was called to the cashier’s cage because the refund voucher was not accompanied by the sales receipt. He stated that he was one of seven staff members authorized to “okay” any such merchandise refund vouchers; that when he looked at the voucher, he saw that it was alréady “okayed” by some ¹⁸⁵ one that he did not know; that the signature made him “suspicious,” particularly since there were two security officers then present; that he couldn’t identify the signature “at the time” and that was the reason “why we had to go back to the floor and get this straightened out.” Ronald Gray, another store security officer, testified that he thought the book in which the refund voucher had been kept had been stolen because immediately after appellant and Joyner were apprehended “I personally went back to the place where they were issued and couldn’t find the book of vouchers.” Gray testified that it was a part of his responsibility to check all stolen vouchers.

The appellant testified that he and Miss Joyner had come to the Mall to look for jobs; that he went to People’s Drug Store while she went to Wards; that “she came back and said that she found the voucher when I was in People’s Drug Store”; that “[s]he said that she found this voucher and she was going upstairs to return it to the cashier’s office because it was 2-6-68 on it, and whoever lost it lost it that morning when we was at