Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 07, 2000: AGO 2000-0169 (April 07, 2000)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Mahala N. Salazar

Lowndes County Circuit Clerk

Post Office Box 31

Columbus, Mississippi 39703

Re: Disqualifying Crimes

Dear Mrs. Salazar:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states:

“Please advise whether a person convicted of the crime of prescription forgery under Section 41-29-144 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 annotated and amended should be disqualified from voting in the State of Mississippi in accordance with Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution .

We currently have two registered voters who have recently been convicted of the above listed crime, therefore, the Election Commission and I would appreciate your immediate response.”

Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890 provides that anyone convicted of certain crimes cannot be a qualified elector. The listed crimes are: murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy.

Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 41-29-144 (1972) provides:

“(1) It is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to acquire or obtain possession or attempt to acquire or obtain possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge.

(2) It is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess, sell, deliver, transfer or attempt to possess, sell, deliver or transfer a false, fraudulent or forged prescription of a practitioner.

(3) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a crime and upon conviction shall be confined for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years and fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1, 000.00) or both.”

In our opinion addressed to Ms. Mary Anne Lindsey, dated March 11, 1987 we cited Criddle v. State , 250 Miss. 339, 165 So.2d 342 (1964) in which the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that forgery and uttering forgery are separate and distinct offenses. We then concluded that the crime of uttering forgery is not disqualifying. Based on the foregoing, it is our opinion that forgery and “prescription forgery” are separate and distinct offenses. Therefore, a conviction of “prescription forgery” pursuant to Section 41-29-144, in our opinion, would not disqualify one as a registered voter.

Sincerely,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.

Phil Carter, Special Assistant Attorney General