Title XXXVII — CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

545.180. Certain indictments, what designation sufficient. — In any indictment for forging, uttering, stealing, embezzling, destroying or concealing, or for obtaining by color of any false token, writing, or false pretenses, any instrument or property, it shall be sufficient to d…

545.190. Identification of counterfeiting equipment. — In any indictment for engraving or making the whole or any part of any instrument, matter or thing whatsoever, or for using or having the unlawful possession of any plate or other material upon which the whole or any part of …

545.200. Instruments, how described. — In all other cases, whenever it shall be necessary to make any averment in any indictment as to any instrument, whether the same consists wholly or in part of writing, print or figures, it shall be sufficient to describe such instrument by a…

545.210. Money or note, how described. — In every indictment in which it shall be necessary to make any averment as to any money or any note, being or purporting to be made or issued by any bank incorporated by law, or made or issued by virtue of any law of the United States, it …

545.220. Demurrer or motion to quash indictment must specify grounds. — A demurrer to or motion to quash an indictment shall distinctly specify the grounds of objection to the indictment; unless it does so, it shall be disregarded, nor shall any reason be held to sustain such dem…

545.230. Indictment by wrong name. — If a defendant be indicted by the wrong name, unless he declare his true name before pleading, he shall be proceeded against by the name in the indictment. If he allege that another name is his true name, it must be entered in the minutes of t…

545.240. Informations — how filed, verified. — Informations may be filed by the prosecuting attorney as informant during term time, or with the clerk in vacation, of the court having jurisdiction of the offense specified therein. All informations shall state the name of the prose…

545.250. Who may make affidavit. — When any person has knowledge of the commission of a crime, he may make his affidavit before any person authorized to administer oaths, setting forth the offense and the person or persons charged therewith, and file the same with the clerk of th…

545.260. Lost affidavit, how replaced. — If the affidavit or information shall be lost or destroyed, the prosecuting attorney may file another, and the case shall proceed without any delay from that cause. ­­-------- (RSMo 1939 § 3897) Prior revisions: 1929 § 3507; 1919 § 3852; 1…

[Repealed or reserved.]

545.280. Prosecuting witness, who deemed. — When the information is based on an affidavit filed with the clerk or delivered to the prosecuting attorney, as provided for in section 545.250, the person who made such affidavit shall be deemed the prosecuting witness, and in all case…

545.290. Statute of jeofails applicable to proceedings by information. — The statute of jeofails, as applicable to criminal pleadings and proceedings in prosecutions by indictment, shall apply to all proceedings in prosecutions by information; and any affidavit or information may…

545.300. Informations — amendment — substitution for defective indictment. — An information may be amended either as to form or substance at any time before the jury is sworn, but no such amendment shall be allowed as would operate to charge an offense different from that charged…

545.310. Issuance of warrant — recognizance after arrest. — Upon the filing of the information, a warrant shall issue for the apprehension of the person charged with the offense, unless he be in custody or voluntarily surrender himself in custody of the court; and if such warrant…

545.320. Issuance of subpoenas for state witnesses. — No subpoena for a witness in any criminal case shall be issued on the part of the state, unless the name of such witness be endorsed on the indictment or information, or the prosecuting attorney shall order the same to be issu…

545.330. Issuance of subpoenas for defense witnesses. — The defendant shall be entitled to process for witnesses to be issued and directed to the sheriff of the county in which such witnesses may be; but all the witnesses in the same county shall be included in one subpoena, and …

545.340. Disobedience to subpoena, how punished. — Disobedience to any such subpoena shall be punished in the same manner and upon like proceedings as provided by law in civil cases; and every delinquent witness shall be liable to the party at whose instance he was summoned, in t…

545.350. Tender of fees not necessary. — It shall not be necessary to pay or tender any fees whatever to any witness summoned on the part of the state or on the part of the defendant, but such witness shall be bound to attend and be liable for his nonattendance in the same manner…

545.360. Law governing witnesses in civil cases to apply. — The provisions of law in civil cases, relative to compelling the attendance and testimony of witnesses, their examination, the administration of oaths and affirmations and proceedings as for contempt, to enforce the reme…

545.370. Witness to attend until end of case — consequences of failure to so attend. — Whenever a witness in a criminal case has been once subpoenaed or recognized to appear before any division of the circuit court, he shall attend under the same as such witness, from time to tim…

545.380. Defense witnesses — commission to take deposition, when. — When any issue of fact is joined in any criminal case, and any material witness for the defendant resides out of the state, or residing within the state, is enceinte, sick or infirm, or is bound on a voyage or is…

545.390. Depositions to be taken and read as in civil cases. — Interrogatories to be annexed to such commission shall be settled and such commission shall be issued, executed and returned in the manner prescribed by law in respect to commissions in civil cases, and the deposition…

545.400. Conditional examination of witnesses. — The defendant in any criminal cause may also have witnesses examined on his behalf, conditionally, upon a commission issued by the clerk of the court in which the cause is pending, in the same cases and upon the like notice to the …

545.410. Duty of prosecuting attorney in taking depositions. — When any prosecuting attorney shall be notified of the taking of any deposition, as specified in section 545.400, it shall be his duty to attend the taking thereof if the same shall be taken in his county, but if in a…

545.415. Criminal cases, prosecutors and circuit attorneys may take depositions of any person, procedure — prisoners deposed, where. — Beginning July 1, 1995, a prosecuting or circuit attorney in any criminal case pending in any court may obtain the deposition of any person on or…

545.420. Indictment against judge to be removed to another circuit. — Whenever any indictment or prosecution for a criminal offense shall be pending in any court, against the judge thereof, the same shall be removed to the circuit court of some county in a different circuit, upon…

545.430. Change of venue may be granted defendant. — Any criminal cause pending in any circuit court may be removed, by the order of such court or the judge thereof, to the circuit court of another county in the same circuit, whenever it shall appear, in the manner provided in se…

545.440. Change of venue in counties where court held at more than one place. — In all counties in this state wherein terms of courts having criminal jurisdiction are held at more places than one, and provision has been made by law for the taking of changes of venue in criminal c…

545.450. When case may be removed to another circuit. — Whenever it shall appear, in the manner provided in section 545.490, that the inhabitants of the entire circuit are so prejudiced against the defendant that a fair trial cannot be had therein, the cause shall, by order of th…

545.460. Removal to be made on application of defendant. — Such order of removal, as specified in sections 545.440 and 545.450, shall be made on the application of the defendant, or where the defendant is under the age of sixteen, then on the application of the parent or guardian…

545.470. Application for change of venue, when made. — No order for the removal of any cause shall be made on the application of the defendant for the causes specified in sections 545.430 and 545.450, unless such application be made during the term of the court at which the indic…

545.473. Cole County, change of venue, procedure. — 1. Notwithstanding Missouri supreme court rule 32.03, a defendant with a case filed in a county with department of corrections centers with a total average yearly offender population in excess of two thousand persons shall follo…

545.480. Additional affidavit, when made. — If the defendant will, in addition to the oath requisite in ordinary and timely applications, swear that the facts on which he grounds his application have first come to his knowledge since the last preceding continuance of the cause, t…

545.490. Petition for change of venue must be proved and may be rebutted. — The petition of the applicant for a change of venue shall set forth the facts or grounds upon which such change is sought, and such petition shall be supported by the affidavit of petitioner and the affid…

545.500. Order for removal shall specify what. — Every order for the removal of any cause under the foregoing provisions shall state whether the same is made on the application of the party, or on facts within the knowledge of the court or judge, and shall specify the cause of re…

545.510. Order for removal, where entered. — Every order for the removal of a cause, if made in term, shall be entered on the minutes; if made by an officer out of court, shall be in writing and signed by such officer, and shall be filed by the clerk with the petition, if any, as…

545.520. Recognizance to be given. — When such order shall be made, the defendant, if not in confinement or custody, shall enter into a recognizance, with sufficient sureties, for his appearance to answer the charge in the court to which the cause is to be removed, at the next te…

545.530. Who may take recognizance. — Such recognizance may be taken by the court or judge making the order, or by any court or officer authorized by law to let to bail after indictment, and when taken out of the court in which the cause is pending, shall be filed with the clerk …

545.540. Order for removal void, unless bail given. — No order for the removal of a cause shall be effectual in the case of any defendant not in confinement or custody, unless a recognizance, taken as herein directed, be entered into in open court, or delivered with the order and…

545.550. Defendant in custody, to be removed, when — which county jail to house defendant. — 1. If the defendant be in actual custody or confinement, the court or officer granting the order of removal shall, subject to any arrangements made pursuant to subsection 2 of this sectio…

545.560. Duty of sheriff. — The sheriff shall obey such order without unnecessary delay, and shall endorse on the commitment or process by virtue of which the prisoner was in his custody, the reason of the change of custody, and shall deliver such warrant, with the prisoner, to t…

545.570. In case of removal, transcript of record to be made. — Whenever any order shall be made for the removal of any cause, under the foregoing provisions, the clerk of the court in which the same is pending shall make out a full transcript of the record and proceedings in the…

545.580. Transcript to be filed. — On the receipt of such transcript by the clerk of the court to which any cause is removed, he shall file the same as a record of his court, and the same proceedings shall be had in the cause in such court, in the same manner and in all respects …

545.590. Lost transcript may be replaced. — If such transcript shall not be transmitted, or shall not be received at or before the first term of the court to which the cause is ordered to be removed, or if such transcript shall be lost or destroyed, the cause shall not by reason …

545.600. Witnesses to attend trial in cases of removal. — The defendant and all witnesses and others who shall have entered into any recognizance to attend the trial of such cause, having notice of the removal thereof, shall be bound to attend at the time and place of trial, in t…

545.610. In case of removal, when notice to be given. — When the order of removal is made in term, it shall be deemed a notice to every person who shall have entered into a recognizance to appear at such term; in other cases the notice shall be in writing, signed by the prosecuti…

545.620. Costs, how taxed and paid. — The costs and expenses necessarily incurred in the removal of any such cause under the foregoing provisions shall be adjusted and allowed by the court wherein the cause is tried, and shall be taxed as other costs in such cause. ­­-------- (RS…

545.630. Clerk, when liable to civil action. — If any clerk of the court shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty in relation to the removal of a cause enjoined on him by the foregoing provisions, he shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, to be recover…

545.640. Change of venue for one not to affect other defendants. — Where there are several defendants in any indictment or criminal prosecution and the cause of the removal thereof exists only as to part of them, the other defendants shall be tried and all proceedings had against…

545.650. Change of venue and disqualification of judges in multiple-judge circuits. — In all circuits composed of a single county having more than one judge, no change of venue shall be allowed by said circuit court to the circuit court of any other county in this state for the c…