Opinion ID: 2211188
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Unavailability of original complaint.

Text: November 29, 1967, the date of the trial, the court, the prosecutor and the defendant's attorney discovered for the first time that the original complaint was not a part of the trial court record. Defendant thereupon moved for a dismissal and the trial court denied the motion. We are of the opinion that the decision of the trial court on this motion was correct. Several copies of the original complaint were available and the record convinces us that an original complaint issued in this case. In fact, the defendant does not directly argue that there was none. Furthermore, after the preliminary examination had been conducted and probable cause determined, the defendant was bound over to the circuit court for trial. Following the bindover an information was filed to which the defendant entered a plea on May 19, 1967, and was tried. In felony cases the information is the accusatory pleading under our criminal procedure and its filing is not jurisdictionally dependent upon a valid complaint. Pillsbury v. State (1966), 31 Wis. 2d 87, 93, 142 N. W. 2d 187. At the time of the arraignment on the information no objection was made to any of the proceedings in the lower court. The fact that the original complaint is now missing does not vitiate the conviction of the defendant.