Nebraska § 28-603 - Forgery, second degree; penalty; aggregation allowed; when.

§ 28-603. Forgery, second degree; penalty; aggregation allowed; when.

(1) Whoever, with intent to deceive or harm, falsely makes, completes, endorses, alters, or utters any written instrument which is or purports to be, or which is calculated to become or to represent if completed, a written instrument which does or may evidence, create, transfer, terminate, or otherwise affect a legal right, interest, obligation, or status, commits forgery in the second degree.

(2) Forgery in the second degree is a Class IIA felony when the face value, or purported face value, or the amount of any proceeds wrongfully procured or intended to be procured by the use of such instrument, is five thousand dollars or more.

(3) Forgery in the second degree is a Class IV felony when the face value, or purported face value, or the amount of any proceeds wrongfully procured or intended to be procured by the use of such instrument, is one thousand five hundred dollars or more but is less than five thousand dollars.

(4) Forgery in the second degree is a Class I misdemeanor when the face value, or purported face value, or the amount of any proceeds wrongfully procured or intended to be procured by the use of such instrument, is five hundred dollars or more but is less than one thousand five hundred dollars.

(5) Forgery in the second degree is a Class II misdemeanor when the face value, or purported face value, or the amount of any proceeds wrongfully procured or intended to be procured by the use of such instrument, is less than five hundred dollars.

(6) For the purpose of determining the class of penalty for forgery in the second degree, the face values, or purported face values, or the amounts of any proceeds wrongfully procured or intended to be procured by the use of more than one such instrument, may be aggregated in the indictment or information if such instruments were part of the same scheme or course of conduct which took place within a sixty-day period and within one county. Such values or amounts shall not be aggregated into more than one offense.

To sustain a conviction for forgery, it is not sufficient for the State to show that a signature is not that of the party whose name is used, but it must also affirmatively be shown that the signing was made without his or her authority. State v. Castor, 262 Neb. 423, 632 N.W.2d 298 (2001).

The elements of the crime of uttering a forged instrument are (1) the offering of a forged instrument with the representation by words or acts that it is true or genuine, (2) the knowledge that same is false, forged, or counterfeited, and (3) the intent to defraud. State v. Tate, 222 Neb. 586, 385 N.W.2d 456 (1986).