The first pleading on the
part of the State is the indictment or information.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1411)
The
several courts of this state shall have and may exercise the same power
and jurisdiction to try and determine prosecutions upon information for
crimes, misdemeanors and offenses, to issue writs and process and do all
other acts therein as in cases of like prosecution under indictment.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1412)
1. An information may be filed against any person for any offense
when the person:
(a) Has had a preliminary examination as provided by law before a
justice of the peace, or other examining officer or magistrate, and has
been bound over to appear at the court having jurisdiction; or
(b) Has waived his right to a preliminary examination.
2. If, however, upon the preliminary examination the accused has
been discharged, or the affidavit or complaint upon which the examination
has been held has not been delivered to the clerk of the proper court,
the Attorney General when acting pursuant to a specific statute or the
district attorney may, upon affidavit of any person who has knowledge of
the commission of an offense, and who is a competent witness to testify
in the case, setting forth the offense and the name of the person or
persons charged with the commission thereof, upon being furnished with
the names of the witnesses for the prosecution, by leave of the court
first had, file an information, and process must forthwith be issued
thereon. The affidavit need not be filed in cases where the defendant has
waived a preliminary examination, or upon a preliminary examination has
been bound over to appear at the court having jurisdiction.
3. The information must be filed within 15 days after the holding
or waiver of the preliminary examination. Each information must set forth
the crime committed according to the facts.
4. If, with the consent of the prosecuting attorney, a defendant
waives his right to a preliminary examination in accordance with an
agreement by the defendant to plead guilty or nolo contendere to a lesser
charge or at least one but not all, of the initial charges, the
information filed against the defendant pursuant to this section may
contain only the offense or offenses to which the defendant has agreed to
enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere. If, for any reason, the
agreement is rejected by the district court or withdrawn by the
defendant, the prosecuting attorney may file an amended information
charging all of the offenses which were in the criminal complaint upon
which the preliminary examination was waived. The defendant must then be
arraigned in accordance with the amended information.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1412; A 1975, 654; 1979, 1093; 1989, 163;
1993, 82; 1995, 2448; 2003, 1456 )
1. All informations must be filed in the court having jurisdiction
of the offenses specified therein, by the Attorney General when acting
pursuant to a specific statute or by the district attorney of the proper
county as informant, and his name must be subscribed thereto by him or by
his deputy.
2. The district attorney or the Attorney General shall endorse
thereon the names of such witnesses as are known to him at the time of
filing the information. He shall not endorse the name of any witness whom
he does not reasonably expect to call.
3. In all cases in which the defendant has not had or waived a
preliminary examination there must be filed with the information the
affidavit of some credible person verifying the information upon the
personal knowledge of affiant that the offense was committed.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1412; A 1975, 655; 1989, 163; 1997, 2365)
1. A court clerk may accept an information filed pursuant to this
chapter that is filed electronically. An information that is filed
electronically must contain an image of the signature of the prosecuting
attorney.
2. If a court clerk accepts an information that is filed
electronically pursuant to subsection 1, the court clerk shall
acknowledge receipt of the information by an electronic time stamp and
shall electronically return the information with the electronic time
stamp to the prosecuting attorney. An information that is filed and
time-stamped electronically pursuant to this section may be converted
into a printed document and served upon a defendant in the same manner as
an information that is not filed electronically.
(Added to NRS by 1997, 892)
1. The Attorney General when acting pursuant to a specific statute
or the district attorney of the proper county shall inquire into all
cases of preliminary examinations as provided by law, concerning the
commission of any offense, whether the offenders are committed to jail,
recognized or held to bail.
2. If the district attorney or the Attorney General determines in
any such case that an information ought not to be filed, he shall file
with the clerk of the court having jurisdiction of the supposed offense a
written statement containing his reasons, in fact and in law, for not
filing any information in the case. The statement must be filed within 15
days after the holding of the preliminary examination.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1412; A 1975, 655; 1979, 1093; 1989, 164)
The judge of the court having jurisdiction
may in extreme cases, upon affidavit filed with him of the commission of
a crime, require all available evidence to be delivered to the Attorney
General for prosecution, if the district attorney refuses to prosecute
any person for such crime.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413)
FORM AND AMENDMENT
1. The indictment or the information must be a plain, concise and
definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the
offense charged. It must be signed by the Attorney General acting
pursuant to a specific statute or the district attorney. It need not
contain a formal commencement, a formal conclusion or any other matter
not necessary to the statement.
2. Allegations made in one count may be incorporated by reference
in another count. It may be alleged in a single count that the means by
which the defendant committed the offense are unknown or that he
committed it by one or more specified means.
3. The indictment or information must state for each count the
official or customary citation of the statute, rule, regulation or other
provision of law which the defendant is alleged therein to have violated.
Error in the citation or its omission is not a ground for dismissal of
the indictment or information or for reversal of a conviction if the
error or omission did not mislead the defendant to his prejudice.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413; A 1975, 655; 1989, 164)
The court on motion of the defendant may
strike surplusage from the indictment or information.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413)
1. The court may permit an indictment or information to be amended
at any time before verdict or finding if no additional or different
offense is charged and if substantial rights of the defendant are not
prejudiced.
2. If an indictment is found charging a primary offense upon which
a charge of habitual criminality may be based, the prosecuting attorney
may file a notice of habitual criminality with the court. If an
indictment is found charging a primary offense upon which a charge of:
(a) Habitually fraudulent felon may be based, the prosecuting
attorney shall file a notice of habitually fraudulent felon with the
court.
(b) Habitual felon may be based, the prosecuting attorney shall
file a notice of habitual felon with the court.
3. The court shall permit an information to be amended pursuant to
subsection 4 of NRS 173.035 .
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413; A 1985, 1026; 1993, 82; 1995, 857,
1245)
When a defendant is charged by a fictitious or
erroneous name, and in any stage of the proceedings his true name is
discovered, it must be inserted in the subsequent proceedings referring
to the fact of his being charged by the name mentioned in the indictment
or information.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413)
JOINDER OF OFFENSES AND OF DEFENDANTS
Two or more offenses may be
charged in the same indictment or information in a separate count for
each offense if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or
both, are:
1. Based on the same act or transaction; or
2. Based on two or more acts or transactions connected together or
constituting parts of a common scheme or plan.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413)
The prosecution is not required to elect
between the different offenses or counts set forth in the indictment or
information, and a plea of guilty to one or more offenses charged in the
indictment or information does not preclude prosecution for the other
offenses.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413; A 1995, 2449; 2003, 1457 )
Two or more defendants may be
charged in the same indictment or information if they are alleged to have
participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts
or transactions constituting an offense or offenses. Such defendants may
be charged in one or more counts together or separately and all of the
defendants need not be charged in each count.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413)
WARRANTS AND SUMMONSES
1. Upon the request of the Attorney General acting pursuant to a
specific statute or the district attorney, the court shall issue a
warrant for each defendant named in the indictment or information.
2. The clerk shall issue a summons instead of a warrant upon the
request of the district attorney, the Attorney General or by direction of
the court.
3. Upon like request or direction the clerk shall issue more than
one warrant or summons for the same defendant.
4. The clerk shall deliver the warrant or summons to the peace
officer or other person authorized by law to execute or serve it.
5. If a defendant fails to appear in response to the summons, a
warrant must be issued.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1413; A 1975, 656; 1989, 164)
The form of the warrant shall be as provided in NRS 171.108 except that it shall be signed by the clerk,
it shall describe the offense charged in the indictment or information
and it shall command that the defendant be arrested and brought before
the court. The amount of bail may be fixed by the court and endorsed on
the warrant.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414)
If the offense charged in the warrant is bailable, and the defendant is
arrested in another county, the officer must, upon being required by the
defendant, take him before the most convenient magistrate in that or any
adjoining county, who must admit the defendant to bail in the amount
fixed in the warrant and take bail from him accordingly, naming therein a
time, not more than 10 days after the time of taking such bail, for the
defendant to appear before the court in which the warrant was issued; or,
in case the court is not in session at the time so fixed for the
defendant to appear, for the defendant to appear before the court in
which the warrant was issued at the first time it is in session
thereafter.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414)
When the indictment or information is
for a felony and the defendant before the filing thereof has given bail
for his appearance to answer the charge, the court in which the
indictment or information is presented, or in which it is pending, may
order the defendant to be committed to actual custody unless he gives
bail in an increased amount, to be specified in the order.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414)
The summons shall be in the same
form as the warrant except that it shall summon the defendant to appear
before the court at a stated time and place.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414)
The
warrant shall be executed or the summons served as provided in NRS
171.114 , 171.118 and 171.122 .
A summons to a corporation shall be served as provided in NRS 171.122
. The officer executing the warrant
shall bring the arrested person promptly before the court or, for the
purpose of admission to bail, before a magistrate.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414)
1. The peace officer executing a warrant shall make return thereof
to the court. At the request of the Attorney General acting pursuant to a
specific statute or the district attorney any unexecuted warrant must be
returned and cancelled.
2. On or before the return day the person to whom a summons was
delivered for service shall make return thereof.
3. At the request of the Attorney General acting pursuant to a
specific statute or the district attorney, made at any time while the
indictment or information is pending, a warrant returned unexecuted and
not cancelled or a summons returned unserved or a duplicate thereof may
be delivered by the clerk to a peace officer or other authorized person
for execution or service.
(Added to NRS by 1967, 1414; A 1975, 656; 1989, 165)
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