Brasfield v. State

I have no disagreement with the majority opinion’s threshold conclusion, nor with the numerous authorities cited to support it, that matters of form contained in an indictment may be amended prior to announcement of ready by the parties, while matters of substance may not be so amended.1

However, that the “amendment” to be made here is a matter of substance, is another question, and one to which the majority opinion offers no satisfactory answer. I find no support whatever in the majority opinion for the proposition that factual elaboration — unnecessary to the fundamental sufficiency of the…