Charging-Instrument

How to Find Defects in Your Charging Instrument

A charging instrument — indictment, information, complaint, or citation — has a specific job: to place the defendant within the reach of a criminal statute, allege every element of the offense, establish the court's jurisdiction, and provide adequate notice. This essay walks through six categories of defects (jurisdictional, definitional, constitutional, charging-sufficiency, formal/technical, and process/service) and a six-step reading method for identifying them. The single most important rule in the area is procedural: most defects are waivable, and they are waived by failing to raise them at the right time.