Opinion ID: 2344868
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Evolving Common Law

Text: It appears that, at English common law, identification in a charging document of the victim, by name, although desirable, was not a fundamental jurisdictional requirement nor a pleading defect resulting in dismissal. The practice in England seems to have been that persons could be identified in a charging document by name or description. See 14 & 15 Vict. Chapter 100, an Act of Parliament of August 7, 1851. [3] This statute permitted an indictment to be amended, to conform to the proof, where the variance was not material to the merits of the case and the defendant was not prejudiced thereby. The Act applied, inter alia, to a variance in the Name or Description of any Person or Persons, Body Politic or Corporate, therein stated or alleged to be injured or damaged or intended to be injured or damaged by the Commission of such Offence, or in the Christian Name or Surname, or both Christian Name and Surname, or other Description whatsoever, of any Person or Persons whomsoever therein named or described. . . .  Id. § 1. In other words, a criminal cause could be initiated by a description of a person intended to be injured. In this country, Hochheimer, writing in 1904, concluded: If it sufficiently appears from the entire context of the indictment that a particular person was assaulted, or was beaten, the indictment is good. Id. § 263, at 294. Seemingly, the particularity can be furnished by description, without a name. State v. Crank, 105 Utah 332, 142 P.2d 178 (1943), is instructive. In that case two Navajos had been arrested on charges unrelated to the reported case. In custody, they purportedly confessed the murder of a white man some ten or twelve years previous, in San Juan County[, Utah]. 142 P.2d at 180. The criminal information alleged that the defendants murdered `a human being, designated by the name of John Doe, his true name being to the accuser unknown.' Id. Rejecting an argument based on the form of the information, the court said: But it is contended that even the short form of the statute sets forth the name of the person murdered, and such name is thereby made a requirement. This is untenable. If the name of the victim is known it should be alleged. If unknown, it should be alleged that the victim was a human being, or words of equal import, whose name was to the accuser unknown. Such allegation has uniformly been held sufficient even under the long form indictment or information. Trumble v. Territory of Wyoming, 3 Wyo. 280, 21 P. 1081, 6 L.R.A. 384 [(1889)]; State v. Sartino, 216 Mo. 408, 115 S.W. 1015 [(1909)]; Reed v. State, 16 Ark. 499 [(1855)]; 30 C.J. 94, 26 Am. Juris. 329; People v. Gormach, 302 Ill. 332, 134 N.E. 756, 29 A.L.R. 1120 [(1922)]; Bishop, New Crim. Proc. 412. There must, however, be some facts then supplied to identify the victim, to enable the defendant to prepare his defense, and to identify the crime, for the protection of defendant, in case defendant is acquitted, or placed in jeopardy and again charged with the same offense. Id. at 180. See also United States v. Schreiber, 16 C.M.R. 639, 1954 WL 2536 (W.C.M.R.1954) (sustaining sufficiency of charges against member of the United States Air Force for murder in Korea of Oriental male, unidentified by name, caught stealing from supply depot). The first case in this Court to discuss the short form of a criminal homicide indictment was Neusbaum v. State, 156 Md. 149, 143 A. 872 (1928). There, this Court said: At common law it was essential that the indictment should show the name of the person charged, the name of the person killed, the jurisdiction within which and the time at which the homicide occurred, that it was felonious and such of the facts and circumstances incident to the crime as were reasonably necessary to identify it, and to enable the court to see whether a crime had been committed as charged. Wharton Cr. Proc., ch. 16. Id. at 155, 143 A. at 875. More recently, 2 Wharton's Criminal Procedure § 279, at 94 (12th ed.1975), concludes: While it is desirable to allege the name of the victim, an accusation is sufficient even though it states that the name of the victim is unknown. (Footnote omitted.) In Adams v. State, 202 Md. 455, 97 A.2d 281 (1953), rev'd on other grounds, 347 U.S. 179, 74 S.Ct. 442, 98 L.Ed. 608 (1954), one of the issues was the legal consequence of a variance. The indictment alleged that the defendant had conspired to violate the lottery laws with one Walter Rouse, but the proof showed that the defendant had conspired with Reuben Maurice Jones, and others. Id. at 457, 97 A.2d at 282. In that context, this Court said: One of the early rules of the common law was that the name of a person necessary for complete description of a crime should be stated in the indictment, if the name of such person is known. The obvious reason for this rule is that every person indicted for a crime is entitled to be informed of the nature of the charge as precisely as possible to enable him to properly prepare his defense. State v. Rappise, 3 N.J.Super. 30, 65 A.2d 266 [(1949)]. However, in order to prevent a failure of justice, it is now generally accepted that if the name of a person necessary for complete description of a crime is unknown to the grand jurors, they are justified in alleging that the name of such person is unknown to them. Id. at 458-59, 97 A.2d at 282-83. In any event, the sufficiency of a charging document, as a matter of pleading, is now controlled by rules of court. Maryland Rule 4-202(a), dealing with the general requirements of the content of a charging document, provides: A charging document shall contain the name of the defendant or any name or description by which the defendant can be identified with reasonable certainty, except that the defendant need not be named or described in a citation for a parking violation. It shall contain a concise and definite statement of the essential facts of the offense with which the defendant is charged. . . .  Thus, this Court, speaking in 2003, said: Although identifying the victim in cases where there is a known victim is not a jurisdictional requirement, it is certainly a useful thing to do and may, in some circumstances, be required in order to satisfy the defendant's Federal and State Constitutional rights to fair notice. Denicolis v. State, 378 Md. at 662, 837 A.2d at 954.