Opinion ID: 1695490
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Indictment and Instruction

Text: If an indictment includes the seven items enumerated in Unif.Crim.R.Cir.Ct. Prac. 2.05, it is sufficient to provide the defendant with notice of the charge against him. Roberson v. State, 595 So.2d 1310, 1318 (Miss. 1992). Rule 2.05 requires that the indictment provide a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged and shall fully notify the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. Additionally, Rule 2.05 commands that an indictment include: (1) The name of the accused; (2) The date on which the indictment was filed in each court; (3) A statement that the prosecution is brought in the name and by the authority of the State of Mississippi; (4) The county and judicial district in which the indictment is brought; (5) The date and if applicable the time, on which the offense was alleged to be committed. Failure to state the correct date shall not render the indictment insufficient; (6) The signature of the foreman of the grand jury issuing it; and (7) The words against the peace and dignity of the state. All seven requirements of Rule 2.05 are met by the indictment at issue and it reasonably provide[d] the accused with actual notice of the charge against him, to wit: DUI maiming. Roberson, 595 So.2d at 1318. See also Smallwood v. State, 584 So.2d 733, 738 (Miss. 1991) (indictment legally sufficient if it gives accused fair notice of offense with which he is charged). Section 63-11-30(1) makes it unlawful for one to operate a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any other impairing substance. Section 63-11-30(4), at the time of Holloman's accident and trial, provided that anyone who operates a motor vehicle in violation of 63-11-30(1) and in a negligent manner causes the death of another or mutilates, disfigures, permanently disables or destroys the tongue, eye, lip, nose or any other limb or member of another shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a felony and shall be committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections for a period of time not to exceed ten (10) years. Instruction C-A-8 reads as follows: The Court instructs the jury that mutilate has been defined as deprive a person of the use of any limb of his body or to cut off or permanently destroy or cripple or to radically alter as to make imperfect. Mutilate has been further defined as it applies to a person to mean to deprive a person of the use of any of those limbs which may be useful to him or her in a fight or to otherwise destroy the use of a limb or organ. The Court instructs the jury that disfigure has been defined as that which impairs or injures beauty, symmetry or appearance of a person or thing; that which renders unsightly, misshapen, or imperfect, or deforms in some manner. It has further been defined as to mar the figure and to render less perfect or beautiful in appearance, to deface or deform, to do such permanent injury which may detract from the personal appearance. Although Holloman now argues that C-A-8 should not have been given because it defines disfigure and mutilate, neither of which were specifically asserted in the indictment, he submitted, at trial, an instruction defining these same terms. The transcript reveals that, despite his initial objection, Holloman actually acquiesced to the definitions of mutilate and disfigure as finally submitted in C-A-8. Given the indictment which provided sufficient notice to Holloman, the evidence supporting instructions defining mutilation and disfigurement, Holloman's submission of instructions defining disfigure and mutilate, and defense counsel's eventual acquiescence to instruction C-A-8, there is no merit to this issue.