State v. White

TERNUS, Justice.

This case presents the narrow issue whether filling out a blank check on another’s account is “alter[ing] the writing of another without the other’s permission” as those words are used in Iowa Code section 715A.2(l)(a) (1995). We conclude the completion of a blank check is not the alteration of another’s writing. Because the defendant was convicted of uttering an altered check under evidence showing the blank cheek had been filled out by someone other than the account owner, the defendant’s conviction must be reversed.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

The facts are largely…