United States v. Ricco Devon Prentiss

HENRY, Circuit Judge.

The defendant Ricco Prentiss was convicted after a jury trial of arson in Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 81 and 1152. A divided panel vacated the conviction, holding that: (1) the indictment failed to allege two essential elements of the offense (the Indian/non Indian statuses of the victim and the defendant); and (2) that the indictment’s deficiency was not subject to review for harmless error. See United States v. Prentiss, 206 F.3d 960, 966-77 (10th Cir.2000) (“Prentiss /”). On rehearing en banc, a majority of this court agreed with the panel’s conclusion…