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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 8-768 / 07-1989 Filed November 26, 2008

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. KEVIN DEAN EDWARDS, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, John D. Ackerman, Judge.

Kevin Edwards appeals from his convictions for two counts of forgery. AFFIRMED.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Dennis Hendrickson, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Elisabeth Reynoldson, Assistant Attorney General, Patrick Jennings, County Attorney, and Drew Bockenstadt, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Miller and Potterfield, JJ.

2 POTTERFIELD, J. I. Background Facts and Proceedings On April 24, 2007, Kevin Edwards attempted to purchase clothing from The Buckle using a stolen credit card. When the cashier rejected the card,

Edwards proceeded to another store where he stole a different credit card from Twila Warren. He then returned to The Buckle and completed his previously failed purchase using the newly stolen card. Twila Warren did not authorize Edwards' use of her credit card. Edwards signed the credit card receipt using the name "Bobby Evers." Edwards stipulated that he intended for The Buckle to accept the credit card as payment for the merchandise, knowing that the card was stolen. Defendant then went to Scheels All Sports where he again used Twila Warren's card to purchase merchandise. He signed the credit card authorization receipt using the name "Steve Warren." Again Edwards stipulated that he

intended for Scheels to accept the credit card as payment for the merchandise, knowing that the credit card was stolen. The case was tried to the court on stipulated facts. The district court convicted Edwards of two counts of forgery in violation of Iowa Code section 715A.2(a)(3) (2007).1 Edwards appeals from

these convictions arguing that there was insufficient evidence to prove forgery and that credit card fraud legislation supersedes forgery in this case.

1

Edwards was also convicted of credit card fraud, in violation of Iowa Code section 715A.6, and identity theft, in violation of Iowa Code section 715A.8(2). He does not appeal from these convictions.

3 II. Standard of Review We review the alleged insufficiency of evidence for errors at law. Iowa R. App. P. 6.4. The district court's guilty verdict is binding unless substantial

evidence does not exist in the record to support it. State v. McFarland, 598 N.W.2d 318, 320 (Iowa Ct. App. 1999). Substantial evidence is evidence that would convince a rational fact finder that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. Id. Issues of statutory construction are reviewed for errors of law. State v. White, 545 N.W.2d 552, 554 (Iowa 1996). III. Sufficiency of the Evidence In order to prove Edwards was guilty of forgery, the State was required to prove the following elements: (1) On April 24, 2007, Edwards completed, executed, or authenticated a credit card authorization receipt; (2) Without the authority of the credit card holder or person whose name Edwards signed to the receipt, Edwards made the credit card authorization receipt appear to be the act of another; and (3) Edwards specifically intended to defraud or injure the credit card holder, the merchant, or the issuer of the credit card and/or Edwards knew the act would facilitate a fraud or injury. See Iowa Code

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