State v. Dozier

• Decision Date: 29 March 1971
• Docket Number: No. 50998,50998
• Citation: 258 La. 323,246 So.2d 187
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Robert Curtis DOZIER.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 187

246 So.2d 187

258 La. 323

STATE of Louisiana v. Robert Curtis DOZIER.

No. 50998.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 29, 1971.

Crawford A. Rose, Jr., Delhi, for defendant-relator.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., Harry H. Howard, Asst. Atty. Gen., E. Rudolph McIntyre, Dist. Atty., William R. Coenen, W. Sartis Bassett, Asst Dist. Attys., for appellee.

BARHAM, Justice.

We granted alternative writs and issued a stay order, 256 La. 1014, 240 So.2d 742 on the application of relator-defendant who had been convicted of three misdemeanors in the district court. The sentence imposed for each offense was insufficient to give appellate relief to defendant, and this court believed the showing made in the application sufficient to warrant the exercise of our supervisory jurisdiction.

These three misdemeanor cases, arising out of the same occurrence, were consolidated in writ application and for the purpose of review. Bill of Information No. 18463 charged that the defendant 'violated LSA RS 14:37 by committing an assault with a dangerous weapon'. Bill of Information No. 18464 charged that the defendant 'did operate the vehicle in a criminally, negligent or reckless manner in violation of LSA RS 14:99'. Bill of Information No. 18465 charged that the defendant 'intentionally opposed and resisted and obstructed an individual acting in his official capacity and authorized by law to make a lawful arrest when he the (said) Robert Curtis Dozier knew or had reason to know that the person arresting was acting in his official capacity, all in violation of LSA RS 14:108'.

Bills of exception were reserved when a motion to quash these bills of information was overruled and when a motion in arrest of judgment, which also urged that the bills of information should be quashed, was overruled. We address ourselves to an examination of the three bills of information to determine whether they legally charge criminal offenses.

The Louisiana Constitution of 1921 requires that in all prosecutions the accused be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him (Art. 1, Sec. 10), and that no person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense (Art. 1, Sec. 9). Under this general mandate we have determined that a bill of information or indictment must be clearly and concisely stated. It must contain all the essential elements of the crime intended to be charged in sufficient particularity to enable the defendant to prepare for trial, to allow the court to determine the propriety of the evidence which is submitted upon the trial and to impose the correct punishment on a verdict of guilty, and finally to afford the defendant protection from subsequent prosecution for the same offense.

We quickly dispose of the bill of information which attempts to charge aggravated assault (R.S. 14:37). If this information attempts to follow the short form indictment provided for this offense in Article 465 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is defective because it fails to follow the language there set out for charging aggravated assault. See State v. Robinson, 143 La. 543, 78 So. 933. Moreover, it is defective under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 473 which requires the identification of the victim when the name of the person is substantial and not merely descriptive. No only does Article 465 require the naming of the victim in the short form indictment for aggravated assault, but Article 473 would require an indictment for aggravated assault to name the victim. Article 473 specifically requires the naming of the victim in murder, rape, or battery, which are illustrative of the many offenses in which the name is essential, and an assault as defined by R.S. 14:36 is merely an attempt to commit a battery. The motion to quash Bill of Information No. 18463 should have been sustained.

Bill of Information No. 18464 attempts to charge the crime of reckless operation of a vehicle in the following language: 'Robert C. Dozier did operate The vehicle in a criminally, negligent or reckless manner in violation of LSA RS 14:99.' (Emphasis here and elsewhere has been supplied.) The defendant urges that the bill is defective because the law can be violated in many ways and the information fails to state in what manner it was violated.

Reckless operation of a vehicle is not one of the offenses for which a short form indictment is provided. The bill of information therefore must, in accord with Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 463 and 464, set forth a plain, concise, and definite statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged with the citation of the statute alleged to have been violated. R.S. 14:99 defines the crime as follows:

'Reckless operation of a Vehicle is the operation of any Motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel, Or other means of conveyance in a criminally negligent or reckless manner.'

Since there are several means by which this statute may be violated, an information charging its violation either must name conjunctively all the means used or must specify with particularity the one means used. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 480. It is obvious that the bill of information...