One of our officers is working a good case on a man who passed several forged checks, all purportedly drawn on a single bank. He then proceeded to "pass" the forged checks, one per county, in nine or then counties. Can the check amounts, which totals over $10,000) be aggregated and filed in the county where the bank is located? Help will be appreciated.

Janette A

Possible Venues:
- Where instrument was forged.
- Where instrument was passed/used/deposited.
See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. 13.02.

Doubtful Venue:
- Home county of bank upon which instrument was drawn if instrument not forged in same county and not passed in same county.
See Thulemeyer v. State, 31 S.W. 659 (1895) (venue did not lie in bank's home of Travis County where evidence showed forgery and passing occurred in Bexar County).


The forgery venue statute was amended in 1921 to add the "or deposited or placed with" language. At first glance, this would suggest the bank's home county. However, a 1961 Attorney General's opinion says the 1921 amendments did not overrule the Thulemeyerp rule. See Tex. Atty. Gen. Op. No. WW-1092 (1961).

Unless you want to challenge Thulemeyer, looks like you're stuck with multiple venues.

Professor Dix has criticized the 1961 AG's opinion as containing "no analysis" to reach it's conclusion that Thulemeyer still prevails despite legislative amendment. Dix also notes that not much appellate work has been done in forgery venue cases in the last 100 years. 40 Tex. Prac., Crim. Prac. & Proc. 5:11 (3d. ed. Supp. 2011). Maybe this gives you a test case?

[This message was edited by APorter on 09-12-11 at .]

Thanks for the information. Honestly, let's make it easy for the forger and hard for good guys. This forger passed nine separate forged checks in nine different counties! So instead of a fat felony, you get nine lower charges and nine separate prosecutors. This has got to be changed!

Janette A

I imagine that a proposed bill would be treated favorably. Consider finding a state rep and senator to sponsor such a bill and lobby for it next session.

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Originally posted by JB:
I imagine that a proposed bill would be treated favorably.

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I counted 10 separate changes to CCP Ch. 13 that passed during this most recent session, so I think this is an accurate statement. Tee it up and let it fly!