Page:1939 North Dakota Session Laws.pdf/215

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200
CHAPTER 132
CRIME

§ 6. Form of Information.) The information may be in substantially the following form:

In the (here state the name of the court) the [blank] day of [blank], 19[blank]. The State (Commonwealth, People) of [blank] vs. A. B.

X. Y. (here state the title of the prosecuting attorney) for the county of [blank] accuses A. B. of (here charge the offense in one of the ways mentioned in Section 7-e.g., murder; assault with intent to kill, poisoning an animal contrary to Section 31 of the Penal Code) and charges that (here the particulars of the offense may be added with a view to avoiding the necessity for a bill of particulars).

§ 7. Charging the Offense.] (1) The indictment or information may charge, and is valid and sufficient if it charges, the offense for which the defendant is being prosecuted in one or more of the following ways:

(a) By using the name given to the offense by the common law or by a statute.

(b) By stating so much of the definition of the offense, either in terms of the common law or of the statute defining the offense or in terms of substantially the same meaning, as is sufficient to give the court and the defendant notice of what offense is intended to be charged.

(2) The indictment or information may refer to a section or subsection of any statute creating the offense charged therein, and in determining the validity or sufficiency of such indictment or information regard shall be had to such reference.

§ 8. Bills of Particulars.) (1) When an indictment or information charges an offense in accordance with the provisions of Section 7, but fails to inform the defendant of the particulars of the offense sufficiently to enable him to prepare his defense, or to give him such information as he is entitled to under the Constitution of this State, the court may, of its own motion, and shall, at the request of the defendant, order the prosecuting attorney to furnish a bill of particulars containing such information as may be necessary for these purposes; or the prosecuting attorney may of his own motion furnish such bill of particulars.

(2) When the court deems it to be in the interest of justice that facts not set out in the indictment or information or in any previous bill of particulars should be furnished to the defendant, it may order the prosecuting attorney to furnish a bill of particulars containing such facts. In determining whether such facts and, if so, what facts should be so furnished, the court shall consider the whole record and the entire course of the proceedings against the defendant.

(3) Supplemental bills of particulars or a new bill may be