Court Opinion

ID: 9885213
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:53:53.825709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:48.120751
License: Public Domain

Morse, J.,
concurring. I concur in the result solely because V.R.Cr.P. 12, as interpreted, requires a reversal. The rule allowing review of the sufficiency of an information for the first time on appeal, State v. Bradley, ■ 145 Vt. 492, 494, 494 A.2d 129, 131 (1985), is predicated on V.R.Cr.P. 12(b)(2), which states:
Any ... objection . .. may be raised before trial by motion. Unless otherwise ordered for cause ..., the following must be raised prior to trial if then known to the party:... [Objections based on defects in the ... information (other than that it fails to . . . charge an offense, which objection[] shall be noticed by the court at any time during the pendency of the proceeding) ....
The wisdom for this rule is dubious. We rarely grant relief on review unless the error prejudices defendant. In this case, prejudice is most likely absent, given the circumstances and defendant’s failure on appeal to reveal whether any existed.
*618I believe V.R.Cr.P. 12(b)(2)’s parenthetical caveat allowing defects in the information to be raised “at anytime” should be dropped from our criminal practice as unnecessarily technical. The standards for plain error, including the need for a showing of prejudice, are sufficient.