XV. The Indictment

Defendant Must Be Informed Concerning The Accusation Against Him

Now, my friends, in order to understand more fully the value of our constitutional rights, let us again imagine ourselves in a place of danger, danger of our liberty or of our life, and let us recall how carefully we have been guarded. To the poorest tramp, or the richest millionaire, the same rules apply. Innocent persons may be accused of crimes; they may be arrested, but they cannot be brought into court and put upon trial until they are fully advised of the charge against them.

The Constitution provides:

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall ... be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.”[67]

This is the first step in bringing a person to trial. He does not go blindly. He must be informed “of the nature and cause” of the charge against him. He must be given full knowledge of the crime which it is claimed he committed. How is this done? Well, we have to consider the constitutional provision that one cannot be put upon trial for an infamous crime “unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury”. What this constitutional provision means is, that a grand jury shall hear and consider the evidence and, if satisfied that a person shall be tried, they shall draw up a writing called an “indictment”, which they shall return publicly in court. This indictment is a brief statement by which the grand jury makes a charge against the person named of having committed a certain offense, and the indictment must state not only the name of the offense, but the manner, [pg 118] briefly stated, in which the grand jury claims the offense was committed.