Ex-Law Student Charged With Forging 'Not Guilty' Jury Verdict Form After Conviction

BOSTON (CBS) – A former Suffolk University Law School student pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he forged a "not guilty" jury verdict form.

David Scher, 33, of Brighton, was convicted in a 2014 trial of stealing a laptop computer from Suffolk University and given a suspended sentence.

Months later, prosecutors say Scher returned to the Boston Municipal Court clerk's office several times and asked to see the case file, which is a public record.

During one of those visits, prosecutors say he took out the jury verdict slip and forged a copy of it, which now read "not guilty." The forgery was allegedly placed in the file and the original has never been found.

"We allege that he went on to submit that fraudulent verdict slip in a variety of legal proceedings, including one in which it was submitted under the pains and penalties of perjury," Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.

Wark said Scher would have been better off leaving things alone.

"In the underlying larceny conviction, he was sentenced to a 90-day suspended sentence. If convicted on the perjury conviction, he faces a maximum of 20 years in state prison," he told WBZ.

Scher was arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court on a five-count indictment charging him with perjury, tampering with a court document, forgery, and two counts of uttering a false document.

He was released on a promise to return to court. His trial is set to begin December 13.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports