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If You Are Facing Forgery Charges

If you have been accused of forgery, you have the right to fight the charges. An experienced attorney can help. At Pearson & Paris, P.C., we have more than 50 years of combined legal experience that we will use in your defense. Perhaps more importantly, our top criminal defense attorney is a former senior prosecutor who knows how district attorneys handle these cases. That knowledge allows us to create effective strategies ranging from negotiation to courtroom battles.

Call us at 303-872-4719 in the greater Denver area or toll free at 888-725-2609 across Colorado for an initial consultation at reduced Rates..

Whether in the Denver area or anywhere in Colorado, forgery generally occurs when a person, with intent to defraud, falsely makes, completes, alters or utters a written instrument that is or purports to be or is calculated to become or to represent if completed: (1) a government-issued monetary instrument; (2) privately issued monetary instrument; (3) an instrument conveying a property interest; (4) a public record, or a document required to be filed by law as a public record; (5) transportation tokens; or (6) lottery tickets.

Possible Consequences For Forgery

Forgery is a Class 5 felony and may result in the following sentencing options: (1) probation, with a possible jail sentence as a condition of probation of up to 90 days, or up to a two-year work release sentence as a condition of probation, or (2) a sentence to the Department of Corrections of one year up to three years, but as much as six years if the court finds the presence of exceptional circumstances, with a mandatory parole period of two years.

Possible Defenses For Forgery

There are several possible defenses you can make against a forgery charge.

These defenses include lack of intent to defraud. Since many forgery cases stem from a person signing someone else’s name to a check belonging to another person, it becomes important to examine the precise context in which the check was signed. Many people give others, like spouses and boy/girlfriends, permission to sign their name to a check. When the parties later separate or divorce, an accusation may be made that the person committed forgery by signing the other person’s name to the check. Under these circumstances, it would be difficult to prove intent to defraud since the parties established a course of conduct whereby the nonaccount holder was given permission to write checks on the other person’s account.

The remaining defenses that may be applied in a motor vehicle theft case apply with equal force to those that may apply in any other criminal case. This includes an analysis of any violation of constitutional rights such as the right to remain silent, the right to counsel, the right to have any searches and seizures based on probable cause, a proper warrant and the right to due process in the proper preservation of evidence that may be used against you. Many other defenses are available that rely on scrutinizing and exposing weaknesses in the prosecutor’s case, such as biased or incompetent witnesses, flawed crime scene investigation, flawed administration and procedures in collecting breath, blood or urine for forensic testing, incompetent computer evidence, flawed photo lineups and inaccurate crime scene/accident reconstructions.

Get The Help You Need

Call our office at 303-872-4719 to discuss your specific situation or complete the brief online contact form.

Criminal Defense