Opinion ID: 2508184
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jurisdictional Objections and Failure to Charge an Offense

Text: Jones also asserted the information filed against him failed to charge an offense and was jurisdictionally deficient. These arguments are named as exceptions to waiver in I.C.R. 12(b)(2) and thus can be raised at any time, including for the first time on appeal. See I.C.R. 12(b)(2); State v. Luke, 134 Idaho at 300, 1 P.3d at 801; State v. Cahoon, 116 Idaho 399, 400, 775 P.2d 1241, 1242 (1989). Although they are different arguments, here they are linked because it is precisely the information's alleged failure to charge an offense that Jones is asserting to be jurisdictional error. Specifically, Jones argues the information filed against him failed to expressly allege the element of willfulness required for a violation of I.C. § 18-1501(1). Willfulness is a necessary element of felony injury to a child because it is named in the statute and without willful intent the information would describe a non-crime. State v. Young, 138 Idaho 370, 372-73, 64 P.3d 296, 298-99 (2002). Although the failure of an information to charge an offense is never waived, defects which are tardily challenged are liberally construed in favor of validity. Cahoon, 116 Idaho at 400, 775 P.2d at 1242. When an objection to the information was not timely raised before trial  as in the instant case  the sufficiency of the charging document will be upheld unless it is so defective that it does not, by any fair or reasonable construction, charge an offense for which the defendant is convicted. Id. A reviewing court has considerable leeway to imply the necessary allegations from the language of the Information. State v. Robran, 119 Idaho at 287, 805 P.2d at 493. In State v. Cahoon , the defendant was a passenger in his wife's car when she was stopped by police on suspicion of driving under the influence. 116 Idaho at 399-400, 775 P.2d at 1241-42. Mr. Cahoon engaged in an altercation with the officers, and was charged on an Idaho Uniform Traffic Citation form with `resisting, obstructing and delaying an officer' in violation of I.C. § 18-705[.] Id. After being found guilty at trial, Cahoon moved to dismiss the charge, arguing that the citation was inadequate to charge an offense because it (1) did not set forth all of the elements of the offense, and (2) did not set forth the facts upon which the charge was based. Id. at 400, 775 P.2d at 1242. On appeal, this Court noted that when a charging document is not challenged before the verdict, it is to be upheld on appeal if `the necessary facts appear in any form or by fair construction can be found' within its terms. Id. at 400-01, 775 P.2d at 1242-43 (quoting United States v. Pheaster, 544 F.2d 353, 361 (9th Cir.1976)). Under that standard, this Court held that although the charging document filed against Cahoon contained only the date, time, the applicable code section and the words resisting, obstructing and delaying an officer, it was legally sufficient to confer jurisdiction. Id. Similarly, here the information filed against Jones omitted elements of the charged offense, but the Defendant offered no objection until after the entry of judgment. As a result, the more stringent requirements the information needed to meet in order to satisfy due process have been waived. Remaining then is the question of whether the information in this case was sufficient for the purpose of conferring jurisdiction. There is no question the information alleged the crime was committed in Idaho. Here, as in Cahoon, the charging document named the applicable code section under which the Defendant was charged. Consistent with our decision in Cahoon, we hold that when an objection to a charging document is not made until after the entry of judgment, if the applicable code section is named in the charging document its language may be read into the text of the charge. Therefore, here the reference to I.C. § 18-1501(1) in the information adequately conveyed to Jones the element of willfulness otherwise missing from the charging document.