In fact, on page one of the Bill of Particulars, the DA’s office argues that: Per the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, that basic charging information is legally required, so that the defendant can prepare a defense.Īs a case moves toward trial, what is referred to as discovery documents are shared, again so the defendants know what they are being accused of doing and what evidence exists against them.īut the document supplied to the court by Deputy District Attorney Joanne Morando one day prior to the Thursday deadline by the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s office appears to spend more than 80 percent of the text telling the court why the prosecution shouldn’t have to provide that information and lecturing the judge on what a bill of particulars is. When a case comes before a District Court, the charging documents normally lay out the charge, and charge support who, where, when, and how behind the charges. This, in and of itself, is apparently an unusual move. His request, he elaborated, was to lay it out in one record, rather than having to go through the entire charging document to gather what Lovato and Rodriguez were being accused of doing. Merrell Bergin photoĪfter District Attorney Linda Stanley’s office shifted what the prosecution said constituted “child abuse”, the Judge stipulated prosecutors prepare a “Bill of Particulars specifying exactly what the theory of the prosecution’s case is”. State codes of criminal procedure and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure regulate the use of bills of particulars in criminal prosecutions in their respective courts.Chaffee County Judicial Facility at 142 Crestone in Salida is the home of the 11th District Court. As in civil procedure, a bill of particulars is not intended to serve as a discovery device. The defendant is given notice of the offenses with which he or she is charged so that a defense may be prepared and the possibility of surprise or double jeopardy avoided. It is submitted by the prosecution to the defendant, at the defendant's demand, to provide the facts alleged in the complaint or the indictment that related to the commission of the crime. In criminal law, a bill of particulars serves the same purpose. If, however, the information sought by such a motion is obtainable by use of discovery mechanisms, the motion will be denied. In federal courts the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have replaced the use of a bill of particulars with a motion for a more definite statement. State codes of civil procedure impose rules that govern the use of bills of particulars in civil actions brought in state court. It is not to be used as a discovery device to learn the evidence or strategy to be used at trial by the opposing party. A bill of particulars is neither a pleading nor proof of the facts it states, but, rather, an elucidation of a pleading. It also serves to expedite the orderly progress of judicial proceedings by reducing, if not eliminating, the need for the amendment of ambiguous or vague pleadings. Its function is to give the party who requests it knowledge of what the opposing party has alleged in order to protect the party requesting the bill from surprise and in order to establish the real issues of the action. A bill can be submitted either voluntarily or pursuant to a court order for compliance with the demand. Although usually requested by a defendant, it can be demanded by a plaintiff if the defendant makes a counterclaim for a setoff or asserts a defense against him or her. In civil actions a bill of particulars is a written demand for the specifics of why an action at law was brought. A written statement used in both civil and criminal actions that is submitted by a plaintiff or a prosecutor at the request of a defendant, giving the defendant detailed information concerning the claims or charges made against him or her.
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