Opinion ID: 1594360
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: New Preliminary Hearing Required.

Text: Lohnes also claims the trial court erred in failing to hold a preliminary hearing on the second amended information charging first-degree manslaughter. He claims that the original preliminary hearing was sufficient to establish probable cause for the original murder charge only, as the amended information alleging manslaughter was a new offense. SDCL 23A-6-19 provides in part: If trial has not commenced, a prosecuting attorney may amend an information to allege, or to change the allegations regarding, any offense arising out of the same alleged conduct of the defendant that gave rise to any offense alleged in the original information. If the change alleges a new offense, the defendant has the right to a preliminary hearing on the new offense. This court has upheld a trial court's ruling to permit the state to amend an information without a new preliminary hearing. State v. Remacle, 386 N.W.2d 38 (S.D. 1986); State v. Roden, 380 N.W.2d 669 (S.D.1986). However, these cases did not involve any change in the actual offense charged. The question here is whether a lesser-included offense is a new offense under the statute. State v. Forbes, 203 Neb. 349, 278 N.W.2d 615 (1979), held that a preliminary hearing is unnecessary where an amended information charges a substantially similar offense, such as a lesser-included offense. The Forbes court stated: [I]f a defendant is accorded a preliminary hearing and thereafter an amended information is filed charging a crime that includes some of the elements of the original crime charged without the addition of any element irrelevant to that original charge, no new preliminary hearing is necessary. Id. 278 N.W.2d at 618. Although the Forbes court was construing a different statute, this is a proper interpretation of the language in SDCL 23A-6-19. The murder and manslaughter charges both required proof that Lohnes unlawfully killed another with a firearm. The probable cause for those elements was established at the original preliminary hearing. Intent is the only element which differs in the two crimes. The murder charge required intent, while the manslaughter charge did not. Lohnes was charged with manslaughter under SDCL 22-16-15(3), which only requires a killing by means of a dangerous weapon. Since these elements were established at the original preliminary hearing, there were no additional elements to be established for the manslaughter charge in the second amended information, and a new preliminary hearing was unnecessary.