People v. Hertz, C-1417
| Decision Date | 05 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. C-1417,C-1417 |
| Citation | 196 Colo. 259,586 P.2d 5 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner, v. Pearl E. HERTZ, Respondent. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Paul Q. Beacom, Dist. Atty., Marc P. Mishkin, Deputy Dist. Atty., Brighton, for petitioner.
Marshall & Marshall, W. Paul Fryer, Donald W. Marshall, Jr., Brighton, for respondent.
On October 16, 1976, a Brighton police officer served the appellee Hertz a summons and complaint charging her with driving a vehicle "while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs." Before trial in the Adams County Court, the appellant District Attorney moved to amend the complaint by striking as surplusage the words "or drugs," or in the alternative to elect between the two means of committing the offense. The trial court denied this motion.
The county court then granted the appellee's motion to dismiss holding that because the allegation in the complaint was stated in the disjunctive, the complaint was fatally ambiguous, jurisdictionally defective and therefore void. The district court affirmed.
We hold that the county court erred in denying the appellant's motion to amend the complaint. Rule 7(e) of the Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure, while it applies to informations rather than summonses and complaints as here presented, expresses this court's liberal policy regarding amendment of charging documents:
This rule recognizes that substance should prevail over form and that cases generally should not be dismissed for technical irregularities that can be cured through amendment.
Liberal amendment is particularly appropriate here where a police officer in the field, not an attorney, drafts the charges, relying on the language of the statute as a basis for the allegations in the complaint.
The trial court should have allowed the appellant to amend the complaint by striking the words "or drugs." This amendment would not have charged any new, different, or additional offense not alleged in the original complaint. Nor would it have resulted in surprise or prejudice to the defendant. Cf. Maraggos v. People, 175 Colo. 130...
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Cervantes v. People
...technical irregularities in an information that can be cured through amendment. People v. Bowen, 658 P.2d at 270; People v. Hertz, 196 Colo. 259, 260, 586 P.2d 5, 6 (1978). The present case involves the amendment of an information after the jury was chosen and sworn, not an amendment "prior......
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People v. Moody
...before the verdict contrary to the specific standards set forth in Crim.P. 7(e), the trial court abused its discretion. People v. Hertz, 196 Colo. 259, 586 P.2d 5 (1978). This court has expressly adopted a liberal policy regarding amendment of charging documents to avoid dismissal for techn......
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People v. Walker
...the dismissal of cases for technical irregularities in an information that can be cured through amendment. Id. (citing People v. Hertz, 196 Colo. 259, 586 P.2d 5 (1978)). Because the decision to allow an information to be amended pursuant to Crim. P. 7(e) is committed to the discretion of t......
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People v. Cervantes, 81CA0788
...should be determined on the merits and not on the basis of technical rules." People v. Dickinson, supra. See also People v. Hertz, 196 Colo. 259, 586 P.2d 5 (1978); Mora v. People, 172 Colo. 261, 472 P.2d 142 Judgment affirmed. KELLY, J., concurs. TURSI, J., dissents. TURSI, Judge, dissenti......