INDICTMENT (ante). In the United States persons accused of felonies or grave misdemeanors can be brought to trial only upon an indictment which a grand jury hae declared to be "a true bill." When a criminal court is convened and the grand jury has been duly constituted and instructed, the state's attorney, or some other duly quali fied officer, lays before them draughts of indictment against the alleged offenders, and furnishes them with the names of the witnesses whose testimony is relied upon to sup port the accusation. These witnesses the grand jury examines ex parte, not to deter mine the guilt or innocence of the accused, but to ascertain whether there is or is not prima facie evidence of guilt sufficient to warrant their trial. If twelve or more mem bers of the grand jury pronounce in the affirmative, the presentment, with the words "a true bill" indorsed upon the back thereof, is sent to the court; and upon the charges therein contained, carefully set forth in the indictment subsequently prepared, the accused is put upon trial before a petit jury. The indictment is prefaced by a "cap tion," in which are set forth the name, term, and place of meeting of the court, the names of the justices, and the fact that the grand jury was lawfully constituted. Then comes a full and particular description of the alleged crime; the name of the accused must be given if known; and if not, he must be described in such a way as to make his identity sure. The time and place of the commission of the crime must also be stated, though
it is not always necessary to conviction that these particulars should be exactly sup ported as charged. In some cases, however, a failure upon this point is fatal to the indictment. In trials for perjury the exact day when the offense was committed must be named. To prove that the crime was committed on some other day will not avail. In cases of murder the death must be described as occurring within a year and a day of the time when the alleged fatal injury was inflicted. When several persons have been concerned in the commission of a crime, they may be indicted either jointly or sepa rately. It is usual to describe the alleged offense in different ways, in what are usually called "counts," in'order to cover any uncertainty that may exist' beforehand as to the precise way in which it was committed. It is enough if the prisoner is convicted upon a single count. The indictment must charge explicitly whatever is necessary to consti tute the offense. In many of the states of the American union the harsh rule of the common law, which denied the right of a person accused of treason or felony to have a copy of the indictment, has been abolished by statute.