Title 23A, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

In an indictment or information for perjury or subornation of perjury, it is sufficient to set forth the substance of the controversy or matter in which the offense was committed, the court or person before whom the oath alleged to be false was taken, and that the court or person…

No indictment or information is insufficient, nor can the trial, judgment, or other proceeding thereon be affected, by reason of a defect or imperfection in its form, which does not prejudice the substantial rights of the defendant. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 34.3002; SDCL, …

When an offense involves the commission of, or an attempt to commit, a theft or other private injury, and is described with sufficient certainty in other respects to identify the act, an erroneous allegation as to the person injured or intended to be injured, or the ownership of …

When an instrument, which is the subject of an indictment or information for forgery, has been destroyed or withheld by the act or procurement of the defendant, and the fact of the destruction or withholding is alleged in the indictment or information and established during the t…

Words used in a statute to describe a public offense need not be strictly recited in an indictment or information, but other words conveying the same meaning may be used. Words used in an indictment or information shall be interpreted according to their usual meaning in common la…

A circuit court upon motion may strike surplusage from an indictment or information. Source: SL 1978, ch 178 , § 77.

If trial has not commenced, a prosecuting attorney may amend an information to allege, or to change the allegations regarding, any offense arising out of the same alleged conduct of the defendant that gave rise to any offense alleged in the original information. If the change all…

When a defendant is prosecuted by a fictitious name, and in any stage of the proceedings his true name is discovered, it must be inserted in the subsequent proceedings, with reference to the fact that he was prosecuted by the name mentioned in the indictment, information, or comp…

Upon the request of the victim in a prosecution for rape, incest, or sexual contact, the court shall order that the names of the victim or the accused or the details of the alleged offense be suppressed until: (1) The accused is arraigned; (2) The charge is dismissed; or (3) The …

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 23A-6-22 , upon the request of any minor victim or the minor victim's parent or guardian in a prosecution for rape, incest, or sexual contact, the court shall order that the name of the minor and the specific details of the alleged acts be supp…

Two or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment or information in separate counts for each offense, if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both, are of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more act…

Two or more defendants may be charged in the same indictment or information, if they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses. Such defendants may be charged in one or more co…

The prosecuting attorney shall not be required to elect between different offenses or counts set forth in an indictment or information, but a defendant may be convicted of any number of offenses charged, and each offense upon which a defendant is convicted must be stated in the v…

Upon request of a prosecuting attorney, a circuit court judge, in the case of a felony, and a magistrate judge, in the case of a misdemeanor or at the direction of the presiding judge of the circuit in the case of a felony, may issue a warrant for each defendant named in an indic…

A warrant shall be in the form prescribed by § 23A-2-4 . It shall describe the offense charged in the indictment, and it shall command that the defendant be arrested and brought before the court. The amount of bail, if any, shall be fixed by the court and endorsed on the warrant.…

A summons shall be in the same form as a warrant except that it shall summon the defendant to appear before a circuit court judge or magistrate judge, as the case may be, at a stated time and place. The time stated may not be more than ten days from the date the indictment was pr…

A warrant shall be executed or a summons served as provided in §§ 23A-2-7 to 23A-2-11 , inclusive. The officer executing a warrant shall bring the arrested person promptly before the court for the purpose of admission to bail. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 34.1231; SDCL, § 23-3…

If directed to do so by the presiding judge of the circuit, a magistrate judge may set bail and take not guilty pleas in felony cases. Source: SL 1999, ch 121 , § 1.

An information may be filed without a preliminary hearing against a fugitive from justice. No other information may be filed against any person for any felony until that person has had a preliminary hearing, unless that person waived his or her right to a preliminary hearing. All…

A law enforcement officer executing a warrant shall make return thereof to the court. At the request of a prosecuting attorney any unexecuted warrant may be returned and canceled by the court. On or before the return day the person to whom a summons was delivered for service shal…

The indictment or the information shall be a plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. The information must be signed by the prosecuting attorney to be valid. It need not contain a formal commencement, a formal conclus…

No additional facts need be alleged in an indictment or information against an accessory before the fact than are required in an indictment against his principal. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 34.0504; SDCL, § 23-10-4; SL 1978, ch 178 , § 66.

An indictment or information is sufficient if it can be understood therefrom: (1) That it is entitled in a court having authority to receive it, although the name of the court is not stated; (2) That the indictment was found by a grand jury of the county in which the public offen…

Neither presumptions of law, nor matters of which judicial notice is taken, need be stated in an indictment or information. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 34.3004; SDCL, § 23-32-21; SL 1978, ch 178 , § 72.

The precise time at which an offense was committed need not be stated in an indictment or information, but it may be alleged to have been committed at any time before the filing thereof, except when the time is a material element of the offense. Source: Supreme Court Rule 368, 19…