This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help >>>> Criminal Pleadings:
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information:
(15c)
1. Criminal procedure. A formal criminal charge made by a prosecutor without a grand-jury indictment. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 7. * The information is used to prosecute misdemeanors in most states, and about half the states allow its use in felony prosecutions as well. — aka bill of information. [1]
1. An accusation of the commission of a crime, otherwise known as a complaint or affidavit, upon which an accused is brought to trial and prosecuted for a misdemeanor or trivial offense or, if a felony is charged, whether there is probable cause for the accusation so that the accused should be held for, or bound ever, to await the action of, the grand jury. 2 Am J2d Crim L § 441.
In another sense of the term, a written accusation of crime preferred by a public prosecuting officer without the intervention of a grand jury. 27 Am J1st Indict 7.
See libel of information. [2]
1. An accusation of the commission of a crime, sworn to by a district attorney or other prosecutor, on the basis of which a criminal defendant is brought to trial for a misdemeanor and, in some states, for a felony.
2. In some jurisdictions, which prosecute felonies only on the basis of indictment by a grand jury, an affidavit alleging probable cause to bind the defendant over to await action by the grand jury.
See binding over.
3. Knowledge of acquired facts. [3]
Various Types of Information Pleadings:
duplicitous information – (1912) An information that charges two or more offenses as one count.
substitute information in lieu of indictment – (1936) An information that the prosecutor files to take the place of a previously returned indictment, usu. because the indictment is defective or because the prosecutor has added, altered, or deleted facts and allegations.
superseding information – (1910) A second or later information that includes additional charges or corrects errors in an earlier one.
information and belief – A phrase used in the law to limit a declaration (EXAMPLES: a complaint; an allegation) so that it is understood to be made upon information believed to be true as opposed to information known to be true. A district attorney swears to an information “upon information and belief.” [3]
upon information and belief – 1. Qualifying a statement as made, not as a fact, but as believed to be true from information. 5 Am J2d Arr § 14. [2] 1. A term used by a declarant to indicate that his statement is not intended as a statement of fact, but merely what he believes to be the fact or has been informed is the fact. [3]
allegation upon information and belief – Allegations in an affidavit in the form of statement to the best of the affiant’s information and belief, not as of a certainty. 3 Am J2d Affi § 22. [2]
References:
Disclaimer: All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use.
[1]: Black’s Law Dictionary Deluxe Tenth Edition by Henry Campbell Black, Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-61300-4
[2]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary with Pronunciations Third Edition by James A. Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Edited by William S. Anderson. © 1969 by THE LAWYER’S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931
[3]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary Legal Assistant Edition
by Jack Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Doctored by Jack G. Handler, J.D. © 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.
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