Court Opinion

ID: 9699883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:54:49.024524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:59.375777
License: Public Domain

McCALEB, Justice
(dissenting).
I think that the appellate division of the Criminal District Court was correct in holding that the bill of information adequately informed relator of the nature and cause of the accusation against him and that, therefore, his motion in arrest of judgment was not well taken.
The statute involved is Section 222 of Chapter 1 of Title 18 of the Revised Statutes which deals with elections. Chapter 1 of this title, which has to do with registration of voters, has nine separate parts. Part IX provides the penalties for violation of the various enactments. Section 222, under which the information is brought, declares:
“No person shall register falsely or illegally as a voter, or make a false statement in an affidavit or other document that he presents for the purpose of procuring himself to be registered or to be retained as a registrant. No person shall knowingly present, for any purpose within the purview of this Chapter, an affidavit or other document containing a false statement”.
It is plain to me that the statute denounces three acts as offenses:
(1) To register falsely or illegally as a voter, or
(2) To make a false statement in an affidavit presented by a person for the purpose of procuring himself to be registered or retained as a registrant, or
(3) To knowingly present “for any purpose within the purview of this Chapter” an affidavit or other document containing a false statement.
The bill of information herein charges relator with violating the first of the three provisions outlined above. It alleges that he, “on the 12th day of December in the year 1951 did wilfully and unlawfully cause himself to be registered as a voter for Ward 3, Precinct 2, by submitting false information in his application for registration.
These averments succinctly inform relator that he has violated the law by registering illegally and that he accomplished the unlawful act by submitting false information in his application for registration. Thus, he is told what he did and how he did it. No more is required as every *507fact and circumstance necessary to constitute the offense ' is here stated. Article 227, Code of Criminal Procedure, LSA-R.S. 15 :227. If relator desired any specific information relative to the type of false information he submitted in his application for registration, he could have requested it by motion for a bill of particulars.
For these reasons, State v. Varnado, 208 La. 319, 23 So.2d 106 and other authorities cited by the majority are not apposite.
I respectfully dissent.