Is this a criminal case? Police execute search warrant for defendant's house based on probable cause that defendant is making fake checks, driver's licenses, and social security cards. Police do not find hard copies of any of the three. The DPS lab finds all three on the defendant's computer hard drive.

My uneasiness is that the fake documents are on a computer hard drive and not printed out on paper. A "writing" is printing or any other method of recording information. I cannot find a case that says a computer hard drive is a writing.

Has anyone had this fact pattern? What did you do?

Attempt: an act that tends, but fails to complete...or done in preparation of the commission... So yes, there is a crime since we don;t want law enforcement to actually have to wait until the actual offense is completed.

Your facts suggest that section 521.456 of the Transportation Code may be worth a look. The relevant question there will be whether having the fake on a computer means the defendant "manufacture[d] or produce[d]" with intent to sell, distribute or deliver. As Larry mentions, at the least you've got an inchoate offense.

Returning to forgery, and recognizing the dearth of case law on the issue, it still appears to me that the express language of the statute would support your prosecution (assuming you can prove your other elements). Specifically, "writing" is defined as "printing or any other method of recording information." To my uneducated mind, it would seem a DPS computer expert or the like should be able to confirm that storing data on a computer hard drive is a "method of recording information." But I could be wrong.

Oh Allison, you know us defense attorneys, we'd tell the jury you didn't PROVE that: he made the copy on the hard drive; that he had sole and exclusive possession of the computer; that he ever printed these; that he was an artist trying a new form of art; or that he was even aware the copies were on the hard drive. Make sure you can get over those arguments with a good confession. Have a good day.

Thanks for the reference to the Transportation Code. I am in a district office so I was specifically looking for a felony.

Rebecca, too bad you moved. We could have had some fun.

If you want a felony look at 16.01

If you can prove manufacture or production with intent to distribute, it's a third degree felony. See Transp. Code sec. 521.456(b).

I agree with Scott that it meets the definition of "writing". Possession of a forged check with intent to utter it is a state jail felony.