§ 12-12-3. Formal defects in process not ground for abatement or quashing.
No indictment, information, complaint or criminal process shall be abated or quashed for any want of form, or because it omits to allege that the offense was committed or the act was done “feloniously,” “burglariously,” “willfully,” “maliciously,” or with “malice aforethought,” “unlawfully,” “negligently,” or with “force and arms,” or because it omits to characterize similarly the manner of the commission of the offense, or because it omits to allege the means by which the offense was committed or omits to allege the time and place of the commission of the offense, unless the description, characterization, means, time, or place is an essential element of the offense; provided, that it contains such allegation of the offense that the accused is informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.
History of Section.
G.L. 1896, ch. 285, § 4; G.L. 1909, ch. 354, § 4; G.L. 1909, ch. 354, § 3, as enacted
by P.L. 1915, ch. 1261, § 1; G.L. 1923, ch. 407, § 3; P.L. 1932, ch. 1954, § 1; G.L.
1938, ch. 625, § 3; G.L. 1956, § 12-12-3; P.L. 1974, ch. 118, § 11.