Opinion ID: 1841541
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: were the defendants entitled to a bill of particulars?

Text: No authority is cited under this assignment. We have held that an accused is not entitled to a bill of particulars on an indictment. Andrews v. State, 237 Miss. 875, 116 So.2d 749 (1960); Bright v. State, 293 So.2d 818 (Miss. 1974); Overstreet v. State, 369 So.2d 275 (Miss. 1979). Moreover, under our criminal discovery rules, the defendants were fully apprized well in advance of trial of all evidence, oral and documentary, offered by the state. The argument that an accused is entitled to a bill of particulars under a criminal indictment has become dissipated with the advent of criminal discovery rules. The proper use of discovery, as was done in this case, avoids the possibility of any prejudice to an accused through inability to obtain a bill of particulars to an indictment.