Ash v. State

I respectfully dissent. The error here — the variance between the indictment and the trial court's charge to the jury — amounted to a misdescription of an element of the offense that prevented the jury from rendering a "complete verdict" on every element of the offense. Such an error, although constitutional in nature, does not implicate the trial court's jurisdiction. See Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1,119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999) (an erroneous jury instruction, omitting an element of the offense charged in the indictment, was not a "structural error" and was therefore subject…