Code of Alabama - Title 15: Criminal Procedure - Chapter 8 - Indictments

• Article 1 General Provisions.
• Section 15-8-1 "Indictment" defined
  An "indictment" is an accusation in writing presented by the grand jury of the county, charging a person with an indictable offense. The distinction between...
• Section 15-8-2 Indictable offenses
  All felonies and all misdemeanors originally prosecuted in the district court or circuit court are indictable offenses.
• Section 15-8-3 Required contents
  An indictment must contain, in the caption or body thereof, the name of the state, county, court and time when it is preferred and must...
• Section 15-8-4 Formal defects not fatal
  An indictment must not be held insufficient, nor can the trial, judgment or other proceedings thereon be affected by reason of any defect or imperfection...
• Section 15-8-5 Construction of words used
  The words used in an indictment must be construed in their usual acceptation in common language, except words and phrases defined by law, which must...
• Article 2 Allegations.
• Section 15-8-20 Offenses charged or described as at common law
  In an indictment for an offense which was indictable at common law, the offense may be charged or described as at common law, and the...
• Section 15-8-21 Statutory language unnecessary
  Words used in a statute to define an offense need not be strictly pursued in the indictment; it is sufficient to use other words conveying...
• Section 15-8-22 General terms used for special statutory terms
  When a statute creating or defining an offense uses special or particular terms, an indictment on it may use the general term which, in common...
• Section 15-8-23 Manner of stating act constituting offense
  The manner of stating the act constituting the offense, as set forth in the forms given in Article 8 of this chapter, is sufficient in...
• Section 15-8-24 When alleged act done in public place suffices
  When, to constitute the offense, an act must be done in a public place, and such public place is not more particularly defined in the...
• Section 15-8-25 How facts constituting offense to be stated
  An indictment must state the facts constituting the offense in ordinary and concise language, without prolixity or repetition, in such a manner as to enable...
• Section 15-8-26 Charging of unknown facts
  Any fact which is unknown to the grand jury and which is not a material ingredient of the offense may be so charged in the
• Section 15-8-27 Allegation of unknown means
  When the means by which the offense was committed are unknown to the grand jury and do not enter into the essence of the offense,...
• Section 15-8-28 Name of defendant when unknown
  The indictment must be certain as to the person charged; but when his name is unknown to the grand jury, it may be so alleged...
• Section 15-8-29 General allegation of intent to injure or defraud
  When an intent to injure or defraud is necessary to constitute an offense, it is sufficient to allege in an indictment an intent to injure...
• Section 15-8-30 Statement of time
  It is not necessary to state the precise time at which an offense was committed in an indictment; but it may be alleged to have...
• Section 15-8-31 Allegation of venue unnecessary; proof of same at trial
  It is not necessary to allege where the offense was committed in an indictment; but it must be proved, on the trial, to have been...
• Section 15-8-32 Statement of legal presumptions and matters judicially known unnecessary
  Presumptions of law and matters of which judicial notice is taken need not be stated in an indictment.
• Section 15-8-33 How ownership of property alleged
  When any property, upon or in relation to which an offense was committed, belongs to several partners or owners, it is sufficient to allege in...
• Section 15-8-34 Description of animal in indictment for offense concerning same
  In an indictment for the larceny of any animal or for any other public offense committed in reference to any animal, it is sufficient to...
• Section 15-8-35 Indictment for forgery of instrument destroyed or withheld
  In an indictment for the forgery of an instrument which has been destroyed or withheld by the act or procurement of the defendant, if that...
• Section 15-8-36 Perjury and subornation of perjury; indictment
  In an indictment for perjury or subornation of perjury, it is not necessary to set forth the pleadings, record or proceedings with which the false...
• Article 3 Alternative Averments.
• Section 15-8-50 Allegation of different means or intents
  When an offense may be committed by different means or with different intents, such means or intents may be alleged in an indictment in the...
• Section 15-8-51 Charging different results from same act
  When an act is criminal, if producing different results, such results may be charged in an indictment in the same count in the alternative.
• Section 15-8-52 Joinder of offenses in same count
  When offenses are of the same character and subject to the same punishment, the defendant may be charged in an indictment with the commission of...
• Article 4 Presenting, Filing, Withdrawal, and Recordation.
• Section 15-8-70 Presentation to court and endorsement; limitations on entry in minutes and inspection
  All indictments must be presented to the court by the foreman of the grand jury in the presence of at least 11 other jurors, must...
• Section 15-8-71 Withdrawal and filing of indictment with leave to reinstate same
  In all criminal cases in the circuit court in which a capias or warrant of arrest has issued for two terms and has been returned...
• Section 15-8-72 Recording and safekeeping; when record book required to be produced; use of photograph or photostat machines
  (a) The clerk of the court in which indictments are returned shall, forthwith and without allowing them to be taken out of his custody or...
• Article 5 Amendments.
• Section 15-8-90 When allowed
  An indictment may be amended, with the consent of the defendant entered of record, when the name of the defendant is incorrectly stated or when...
• Section 15-8-91 Prosecution dismissed where amendment not consented to by defendant; new indictment; form of entry of record
  If the defendant will not consent to such amendment of an indictment, the prosecution may be dismissed at any time before the jury retires as...
• Article 6 Lost, Mislaid, Mutilated or Destroyed Documents.
• Section 15-8-110 Preferring of new indictment; form of entry of record
  When an indictment is lost, mislaid or destroyed, the court may, on satisfactory proof thereof, order another indictment to be preferred at the session at...
• Section 15-8-111 Utilization of record copy
  When it is shown to the court that an original indictment, recorded as required by law, has been lost, destroyed or so mutilated as to...
• Article 7 Judgment Arrested, Indictment Quashed, etc.
• Section 15-8-130 Permission of court required to quash, dismiss, etc., indictment
  An indictment must not be quashed, dismissed, discontinued or abandoned without the permission of the court, and such permission must be entered of record.
• Section 15-8-131 Preferring of new indictment where judgment arrested or original indictment quashed; entry of record
  When a judgment is arrested or an indictment quashed on account of any defects therein, because it was not found by a grand jury regularly...
• Article 8 Forms of Indictments.
• Section 15-8-150 Contents; sufficiency; use of analogous forms
  The forms of indictment set forth in this section in all cases in which they are applicable, are sufficient, and analogous forms may be used...

Last modified: May 3, 2021