People v. Stoudt

The State appeals from an order entered by the circuit court dismissing three identical criminal complaints. The State claims that the court improperly considered evidentiary matters not needed to evaluate the legal sufficiency of the complaints. We affirm.

We initially note that we agree with the State’s contention that a trial court should not look beyond the charging instrument when deciding if it should dismiss a charge for failure to state an offense. However, assuming the trial court committed this error, it does not follow that its decision must be reversed. A complaint that fails to…