BOSTON — A former law school student given a 90-day suspended sentence for stealing a laptop computer now faces up to 20 years behind bars after prosecutors say he changed the jury verdict slip in his case from “guilty” to “not guilty.”

David Scher was convicted of larceny in 2014 for stealing the laptop from Suffolk University Law School while still a student. He got three months in jail, with the entire sentence suspended for two years.

But the 33-year-old Boston man returned to the clerk’s office in Boston Municipal Court after his conviction, requested access to the case file, which is a public record, took out the verdict slip and replaced it with a copy that said “not guilty,” according to Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Greer Spatz. The original has never been found.

The forged verdict slip later became an issue in three subsequent matters involving Scher, including in a complaint to the state Department of Criminal Justice Information Services in which he allegedly claimed he had been acquitted and had notified the court of the error. It was also submitted to Suffolk Law in an effort to obtain the degree he had been denied because of his conviction.

Scher was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty Wednesday to charges including perjury, tampering with a court document, and forgery.

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