Court of Appeals: Pleading Standards Are Relaxed for Citations

Last week, the court of appeals decided State v. Allen, a case that holds that the pleading requirements that apply to indictments and other accusatory pleadings don’t necessarily apply to citations. The opinion is helpful to the State, but I think there's a reasonable chance of further review. Background. An officer determined that the defendant had been driving after drinking a substantial quantity of “apple pie,” a “concoction of apple juice, cinnamon, and moonshine.” (State’s Brief at 3.) The officer arrested the defendant, who registered 0.23 BAC on a breath test. The officer issued the defendant three citations, charging him with DWI, DWLR, expired tags, expired inspection, and an open container violation. (The citation charging DWI and DWLR was signed by a magistrate, converting it into a magistrate’s order.) It appears that the defendant was convicted of all charged offenses in district court and appealed to superior court. There, the State chose to proceed only on DWI, DWLR, and the open container violation. A jury convicted the defendant on each of those charges, and he appealed. Defendant’s argument. The defendant argued on appeal that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the open container violation because the citation failed to allege an essential element of the offense. The citation. The top of the citation form alleged that the defendant “did unlawfully and willfully operate a (motor) vehicle on a (street or highway) (public vehicular area).” The officer checked box number 16 on the citation and then wrote by hand: “Transport open container of [...]