Court Opinion

ID: 9563431
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:39:40.522024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:50.985311
License: Public Domain

Mowbray, J.,
dissenting:
Respectfully I dissent from the majority opinion granting the petition for habeas and prohibition and discharging the petitioner.
The majority has ruled that, absent a request by a district attorney or a request by a district judge or pending litigation already underway, the attorney general is powerless to file a criminal information. I am constrained to disagree with the majority, because in my opinion there is constitutional and statutory authority for the attorney general to proceed as he did in this case.
First, the attorney general is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of our state government. Nev. Const, art. 5, § 19.1 Traditionally, the office of attorney general had its origin in the early English system of jurisprudence. The attorney general was the chief law enforcement officer of the Crown and its legal representative in the courts.
Article 1, section 8, of the Nevada Constitution provides that “[n]o person shall be tried for a capital or other infamous crime... except on presentment or indictment of the grand jury, or upon information duly filed by a district attorney, or attorney-general of the state . . .”2 An information is a statement *644by a district attorney or the attorney general to the court that on a certain day a named person committed an offense against the peace and dignity of the State of Nevada.
Article 5, section 22, of the State Constitution provides that the attorney general in addition to his constitutional duties shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.3 The attorney general has numerous statutory duties and powers. For instance, he may appear before any grand jury when, in his opinion, it is necessary, and present evidence of the commission of a crime. He is expressly given supervisory powers over all the district attorneys of the State in all matters pertaining to the duties of their offices. When, in his opinion it is necessary to do so, he may appear in and take exclusive charge and conduct any prosecution in any court in the State for a violation of any law of the State. NRS 228.120.4 The trial judge having jurisdiction of a crime may require that all available evidence relating to the crime be turned over to the attorney general if the district attorney refuses to prosecute the person charged for such a crime. NRS 173.065.5
NRS 173.035, subsection 2, provides that, upon appropriate affidavit of a competent witness, an information may be filed by the district attorney, with leave of the court, following a preliminary examination where the defendant has been *645discharged.6 It is true that the statute names only the district attorney therein and does not mention the attorney general. Neither does NRS 173.045, subsection 1, which provides that all informations shall be filed in the court having jurisdiction of the offense named, by the district attorney of the proper county as informant.7 I do not interpret the failure to expressly name the attorney general as well as the district attorney in the two statutes cited above as an attempt by the Legislature to bar the attorney general from signing and filing criminal informations, and if such were the legislative intendment, it was in my opinion constitutionally impermissible. The Nevada Constitution states that one may be tried only upon presentment or indictment of the grand jury or upon information duly filed by a district attorney or the attorney general. Nev. Const., art. 1, § 8, supra.
Under NRS 228.120, subsection 3, supra, the attorney general is given the express authority to “appear in and to take exclusive charge of and to conduct any prosecution in any court of this state, when in his opinion it is necessary . . .” (Emphasis added.) In my opinion, the natural interpretation of the words, “appear in and take exclusive charge of”, is that the attorney general may initiate criminal proceedings against a defendant by signing and filing an information. Indeed, in NRS 228.120, subsection 1, supra, he is given the power to proceed by way of indictment.
In view of the broad powers the attorney general is given to intervene in criminal prosecutions and to supervise district *646attorneys, as well as to appear before grand juries and to draw and present indictments, he should not, in my opinion, be precluded from signing and filing a criminal information.
The majority has relied upon the case of State ex rel. Woodahl v. District Court, 495 P.2d 182 (Mont. 1972). That case is distinguishable from this case because the court in Woodahl noted, at 185, that in Montana, unlike Nevada, there is “a complete absence of any constitutional or statutory power vested in the attorney general to file an information or initiate a prosecution independent of the county attorney.” (Emphasis added.)
For these reasons, I would deny the writs and affirm the order of the district judge that the petitioner be held to answer the charge.

 Nev. Const., art. 5, § 19:
“A secretary of state, a treasurer, a controller, and an attorney general, shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner as the governor. The term of office of each shall be the same as is prescribed for the governor. Any elector shall be eligible to either of said offices.”

 Nev. Const., art. 1, § 8:
“No person shall be tried for a capital or other infamous crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia when in actual service and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this state may keep, with the consent of congress, in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the legislature) except on presentment or indictment of the grand jury, or upon information duly filed by a district attorney, or attorney-general of the state, . . .”

 Nev. Const., art. 5, § 22:
“The . . . attorney general . . . shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.”

 NRS 228.120, in relevant part:
“The attorney general shall have the power:
“1. To appear before any grand jury, when in his opinion it is necessary, and present evidence of the commission of a crime or violation of any law of this state; to examine witnesses before the grand jury, and to draw indictments or presentments for such grand jury.
“2. To exercise supervisory powers over all district attorneys of the state in all matters pertaining to the duties of their offices, and from time to time require of them reports as to the condition of public business entrusted to their charge.
“3. To appear in and to take exclusive charge of and to conduct any prosecution in any court of this state for a violation of any law of this state, when in his opinion it is necessary, or when requested to do so by the governor.”

 NRS 173.065:
“The judge of the court having jurisdiction may in extreme cases, upon affidavit filed with him of the commission of a crime, require all available evidence to be delivered to the attorney general for prosecution, if the district attorney refuses to prosecute any person for such crime.”

 NRS 173.035, in relevant part:
“2. If, however, upon the preliminary examination the accused has been discharged, or the affidavit or complaint upon which the examination has been held has not been delivered to the clerk of the proper court, the district attorney may, upon affidavit of any person who has knowledge of the commission of an offense, and who is a competent witness to testify in the case, setting forth the offense and the name of the person or persons charged with the commission thereof, upon being furnished with the names of the witnesses for the prosecution, by leave of the court first had, file an information, and process shall forthwith issue thereon. The affidavit mentioned herein need not be filed in cases where the defendant has waived a preliminary examination, or upon such preliminary examination has been bound over to appear at the court having jurisdiction.”

 NRS 173.045, in relevant part:
“1. All informationfs] shall be filed in the court having jurisdiction of the offenses specified therein, by the district attorney of the proper county as informant, and his name shall be subscribed thereto by himself or by his deputy.”