Bennett v. Commonwealth

SAM W. COLEMAN III, Senior Judge.

In a bench trial, Ira Dale Bennett was convicted of uttering a forged public record in violation of Code § 18.2-168. On appeal, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. 1 This case presents a novel question— that is whether the act of signing a false name on an electronic screen, which constitutes a forgery, is also an uttering since the act of signing the screen initiates the transaction to obtain the forged public document. Finding that the act of signing causes the forged document to be created, we hold that the act of…