Ex Parte Preston

The Code of Criminal Procedure is intended, inter alia:

“to embrace rules applicable to the ... prosecution of offenses ... and to make the rules of procedure in respect to ... punishment of offenses intelligible to the officers who are to act under them, and to all persons whose rights are to be affected by them.”

Article 1.03, V.A.C.C.P.1

I

One such right vouchsafed by the Constitution of Texas is the right to know “the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof.” Article I, § 10; Article 1.05. That right is effectively implemented in a criminal prosecution…