Opinion ID: 2612854
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Identity of the Victim

Text: Lowseth argues next that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the information failed to identify the alleged victim and, he asserts, the allegedly defective information cannot be cured through a bill of particulars. He premises this claim on Walker v. State, 847 P.2d 542 (Wyo.1993), which he claims held that a trial court lacks jurisdiction where the charging document fails to identify the victim. In Walker the accused was charged with two counts of indecent liberties in a criminal complaint and then later in an information. The identities of the alleged victims were not provided in either the criminal complaint or the information. Subsequently, at a preliminary hearing, the accused's counsel demanded the alleged victims' identities, but the prosecutor refused to give more than their initials. The trial court sustained the prosecutor's action. At the accused's arraignment, his counsel again demanded the victims' identities and was rebuffed. The accused then demanded the victim's identities through a motion for a bill of particulars, after which the trial court issued a discovery order. The prosecutor continued to resist divulging the identities until specifically ordered to do so by the trial court. After the trial court's order, the prosecutor divulged the victims' identities solely to the accused's counsel. Finally, the identities were fully disclosed in the instructions to the jury. Walker, 847 P.2d at 544. In Walker, a majority (three justices) of this court found reversible error because the prosecution, with some help from the trial court, actively withheld the names of the victims. That majority of justices, however, arrived at its decision for different reasons. Two justices reasoned that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the information failed to name the victims and thus was fatally defective. The third justice, however, premised his finding of reversible error on the court's constitutional supervisory power found at Art. 5, § 2 of the Wyoming Constitution. Therefore, in Walker a majority of this court held, solely, that there was reversible error. Lowseth is incorrect in stating that Walker stands for the proposition that a trial court lacks jurisdiction when the charging document fails to name the victim or victims. On March 9, 1994, this court, in McDermott v. State, 870 P.2d 339 (Wyo.1994), affirmed a conviction despite the fact that the victim's name did not appear on the charging document. In so holding, we said: Since McDermott had actual knowledge of the identity of the victim, there could be no prejudice to him because of the failure of the information to incorporate the victim's name. Consequently, we hold no error can be claimed under Walker. Id. at 348. This case differs from both Walker and McDermott because the information here provided at least a general identity of the victimofficers of the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office. Since the information specifically informed Lowseth that the alleged victim was an officer in the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office and the State, upon request, clarified which officer several weeks before trial, the fact that the information failed to specifically include Officer Barneski's name did not prejudice Lowseth. McDermott, at 348.