People v. Dawdy

Upon a jury trial defendant was convicted of the offense of forgery of a bank check. An issue upon this appeal is whether or not the indictment was sufficient to state an offense.

In People v. Tilden, 242 Ill 536, 90 NE 218, it is stated that at common law an indictment must profess, on its face, to set out an exact copy of the forged instrument and that in the absence of a statute providing otherwise, an indictment which fails to do so is fatally defective. In People v. Brown, 397 Ill 92, 72 NE2d 859 (1947), the Supreme Court states the rule to be that an indictment for forgery must profess…