Court Opinion

ID: 9527116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:27:38.304326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:34.409942
License: Public Domain

McCALEB, Justice
(dissenting).
The ruling herein that the bill of information is sufficient to apprise the accused of the nature and cause of the accusation against him is in conflict with our recent decision in State v. Smith, 243 La. 656, 146 So.2d 152, handed down on November 5, 1962.
In the Smith case the defendants were charged in a bill of information containing two counts with violating (1) R.S. 14:-100.1 (obstructing public passages) and (2) R.S. 14:103.1 (disturbing the peace) under allegations similar to those made in the separate bills of information which have been upheld in the instant matter. The Court, after setting forth the settled jurisprudence of this State to the effect that it is not a sufficient compliance with the constitutional mandate of Section 10 of Article 1 of the State Constitution (that the accused shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him) for the bill of information to be couched in the language of the statute when the statutory words do not, themselves, set forth the elements necessary to constitute the offense intended to be punished (see, among other cases, State v. Verdin, 192 La. 275, 187 So. 666; State v. Varnado, 208 La. 319, 23 So.2d 106 and State v. Blanchard, 226 La. 1082, 78 So.2d 181), quashed the bill of information, holding that the provisions of R.S. 14:100.1 and 14:103.1 were not specific enough to support a charge drawn in their language and that allegations of the particular facts were required in order to comply with the Constitution.
The motion to quash should be sustained.