Opinion ID: 1699278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: The short form indictment denied defendant due process.

Text: Defendant alleges the State's indictment provided him with insufficient notice of the crime charged because it did not indicate the underlying circumstances upon which the State relied to support the first-degree murder charge. The time for testing the sufficiency of an indictment or bill of information is before trial by way of a motion to quash or an application for a bill of particulars. State v. Gainey, 376 So.2d 1240, 1243 (La.1979). A post-verdict attack on the sufficiency of an indictment should be rejected unless the indictment failed to give fair notice of the offense charged or failed to set forth any identifiable offense. State v. Williams, 480 So.2d 721, 722, n1 (La.1985); LA.CODE.CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 465 Official Revision Comment (a). Because defense counsel failed to file a motion to quash, we find defendant waived any claim based on the allegedly defective indictment. Notwithstanding the procedural bar to the claim, the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 provides an accused shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. LA. CONST. ANN. art. I, § 13. LA.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 464 implemented that requirement. It provides: The indictment shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. It shall state for each count the official or customary citation of the statute which the defendant is alleged to have violated. Error in the citation or its omission shall not be ground for dismissal of the indictment or for reversal of a conviction if the error or omission did not mislead the defendant to his prejudice. LA.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 465 authorizes the use of specific short form indictments in charging certain offenses, including first-degree murder. This Court has consistently upheld the constitutionality of the short form indictments. State v. Baylis, 388 So.2d 713, 718-19 (La.1980); State v. Liner, 373 So.2d 121, 122 (La.1979), and authorities cited therein; but see Liner, supra, 373 So.2d at 123, (Calogero, J., dissenting). When those forms are used, it is intended a defendant may procure details as to the statutory method by which he committed the offense through a bill of particulars. Baylis, 388 So.2d at 719; State v. Johnson, 365 So.2d 1267, 1270-71 (La.1978); LA.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 465 Official Revision Comment (a). In the present case, the State charged defendant by bill of indictment, which read, in pertinent part, that Jeremiah D. Manning ... on or about the 18th day of December ... in the Parish [of Bossier] ... did commit first (1st) degree murder upon Mary Ann Malone, in violation of the provisions of LRS 14:30. (R., vol.I, p. 19). Accordingly, defendant was charged in compliance with LA.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 465(A)(31), which provides as a short form indictment for first-degree murder: A.B. committed first degree murder of C.D. See State v. Neslo, 433 So.2d 73, 81-82 (La.1983). This argument lacks merit.