Legal Question in Criminal Law in Mississippi

Our home burned down. The insurance company made a check out to my husband and our mortgage company. The mortgage company issued 3 checks over the course of construction made out to my husband and our contractor. We paid our contractors and subcontractors directly. Our contractor was unavailable and told my husband to sign the first check for him. Our contractor signed the second check himself and told my husband to sign the third. We had paid all bills and our contractor, but encountered several problems toward the end and decided to finish ourselves. We paid our contractor for everything he did to this point although he did not feel it was enough. He has now filed forgery charges on the third check only and my husband has been arrested for forgery even though he was given permission and the money was used to re-build our home as intended. �Does he have any defense to these charges?


Asked on 1/31/12, 9:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Wayne Woodall Wayne Woodall Attorney

ABSOLUTELY. GET A COPY OF THE ENDORSEMENT ON ALL THREE CHECKS AND GO SEE A GOOD CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AT ONCE. YOU MAY WISH TO TRY TO TELEPHONE THE CONTRACTOR TO ASK HIM HOW MUCH HE IS DEMANDING BEFORE HE WILL DROP THE FORGERY CHARGES. TAPE THE CALL WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE WHEN YOU CALL HIM. (RADIO SHACK HAS EQUIPMENT TO USE TO DO THAT FOR LESS THAN $100.00.) THEN GO SEE THE LAWYER AND TELL HIM ABOUT THE BLACKMAIL-EXTORTION BY THE CONTRACTOR

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Answered on 2/01/12, 6:27 pm


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