Court Opinion

ID: 9667257
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:40:37.020914+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:36.224083
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
SEILER, Judge.
I agree with the majority opinion that the information states no offense. However, I do not believe it is subject to amendment and respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that it is. Since the statute of limitations has not yet expired1 and there is reasonable ground to believe the defendant could be convicted of an offense under Section 195.240, I would reverse the judgment and recommit the defendant under rule 27.23. This would involve the filing of a new information. However, I would not distort the meaning of rule 24.02 as permitting an amendment where the origi-inal information fails to charge an offense.
Rule 24.02 provides an information may be amended “ * * * if no additional or different offense is charged and if substantial rights of the defendant are not prejudiced.” We are concerned here with a statutory crime which makes unlawful the possession of a drug designated by the division of health to be a stimulant. The drug with which defendant was charged as possessing was not so designated. Defendant’s defense, which the majority opinion upholds, was that it was not an offense for him to have possession of the drug charged, because it was not on the list. This will no longer be a defense under the amended information permitted by the majority opinion. According to State v. Taylor, (Mo.Sup.) 375 S.W.2d 58, the test of whether there is prejudice to the defendant from an amendment is whether the defense under the charge as originally made would be equally applicable after the amendment.2 Here it would not. As originally made the charge could be defeated by proving the drug named (amphetamine hydrochloride) was not on the list. This defense will not be available against the information as amended, because amphetamine is on the list.
Also, it has been held many times that “a different and distinct offense may not be charged by way of an amended information”, State v. Thompson, (Mo.Sup.) 392 S.W.2d 617, 620; State v. Colbart, (Mo.Sup.) 411 S.W.2d 92, 94.3 Amending the present information by substituting amphetamine for amphetamine hydrochloride will be a change from no offense to an offense, something quite different and distinct from that originally charged, both in name and effect. This is also seen when we observe that the present information would not be a bar to a subsequent prosecution. If the present conviction were to be affirmed (or if, for example, there had been a guilty plea with no appeal involved), defendant who, on the formal record in this case, has *86been found guilty of possessing amphetamine hydrochloride and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, could nevertheless at any time up to October 15, 1968, be charged with unlawful possession of amphetamine on the occasion in question and, assuming the same proof were again made by the state, could be convicted of such charge and sentenced thereon. The present information and verdict would be no bar to such prosecution because the present information does not charge the same offense — it charges possession of amphetamine hydrochloride, not amphetamine.
Although the majority opinion refers to rule 24.02 as supplanting Section 545.300, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., it in effect reads rule 24.02 as being as broad as Section 545.-300, which permitted amendments which did not charge an offense different from that “charged or attempted to be charged” (emphasis supplied) in the original information. The opinion justifies the amendment on the ground it would be only what the original information “attempted to charge”. However, by its terms, rule 24.02 is not as broad as Section 545.300. Rule 24.02 is more restrictive, as it permits amendments “if no additional or different offense is charged”. If there is a conflict or difference in scope between the two, as it seems there is because of the difference in wording, then rule 24.02, being a rule of practice and procedure, would prevail, under Section 5, Article V, 1945 constitution, over the previously enacted statute, State ex rel. Bone v. Adams, (banc) 365 Mo. 1015, 291 S.W.2d 74, 77; State v. Collins, (Mo.Sup.) 383 S.W.2d 747, 749-750.
The majority opinion cites State ex rel. Downs v. Kimberlin, banc, 364 Mo. 215, 260 S.W.2d 552, decided July 13, 1953, which was after the effective date of rule 24.02, January 1, 1953. But I respectfully submit that the Downs case is not authority for the proposition that rule 24.02 must be read as though it includes the language of Section 545.300 permitting an amendment charging the offense “attempted to be charged”. The Downs case involved an indictment which was quashed September 2, 1952. A substitute information was offered by the prosecutor a few days later, relying on Section 545.300 (rule 24.02 was not then in force). The trial court refused to permit the substitution and the prosecutor sought mandamus from this court. Examination of the briefs shows relator relied on Section 545.300. No mention was made in the briefs or in the opinion of rule 24.02. The substitute information which this court ordered the respondent judge to accept would relate back to its filing date, September 6, 1952, which was prior to the effective date of rule 24.02. It does not appear the decision is authority for the proposition that rule 24.02 is as broad as Section 545.300.
If rule 24.02 were intended to mean the same as Section 545.300 it would appear that the same language would have been used. As it is, it would seem that the narrower language of rule 24.02 indicates a desire to see that defendants have the full benefit of Section 18(a), Art. I, 1945 constitution, which states the defendant has' the right “to demand the nature and cause of the accusation”. It has been held that criminal statutes are to be construed strictly, liberally in favor of the defendant and strictly against the state, and that this applies to the charge as well as to the proof, State v. Dougherty, 358 Mo. 734, 216 S.W. 2d 467, 471. Thus it does not appear we should construe rule 24.02 as permitting . amendments which go beyond its terms, which we do when, as the majority opinion rules, amendments can be made to charge what has been “attempted to be charged”.
Even if rule 24.02 is as broad as the majority opinion holds, I do not agree with the majority opinion that there is not the least doubt as to the offense the state intended and attempted to charge. The fact is the statute does not prohibit possession of stimulant drugs in general — it prohibits only the possession of those which have been listed by the division of health. At the time in question the list consisted of *87amphetamine, amphetamine sulfate, dextro-amphetamine sulfate, mephentermine, methamphetamine hydrochloride and nico-tinyl-amphetamine. The state knew through its laboratory technician that the drug which the defendant had in his possession was amphetamine. If it had intended to charge him with possession of this, all it had to do was to file an information so charging. As it was, the state selected a drug which was not on the list.4 How does such an information advise defendant that he is really being charged with a drug which is on the list and, if so, which drug?

. State v. Zingher, 302 Mo. 650, 259 S.W. 451, information held not to state an offense, court not authorized to remand for new trial on proper information where statute of limitations had run.

. State v. Hall, 312 Mo. 425, 279 S.W. 102, cited by the majority opinion, says the same thing.

.In State v. Lane, (Mo.Sup.) 371 S.W.2d 261, despite the language quoted in the majority opinion, the court, at 371 S.W. 2d l.c. 264, was careful to see (1) that there was no change in the offense charged in the original and amended information and (2) that the appellant made no showing he was prejudiced by the filing of the amended information, before it held the court properly permitted its filing.

. The writer has been unable to find “amphetamine hydrochloride” listed in the medical dictionaries, standard pharmaceutical reference works or texts or Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.