Peterson v. State

The first precursor to Article 21.22, V.A.C.C.P., was codified in 1858 as O.C. 404; since settled in Texas law is an unerringly upheld prerequisite to validity of an information, viz:

“A variance between the information and the complaint on which it is based as to the date when the offense was committed is fatal to the validity of the information.”

1 Branch’s Annotated Penal Code (2d. Ed. 1956) 456, § 455.*

Of equal antiquity is a corollary rule: “The allegation of the date when the offense was committed is a matter of substance and not of form and cannot be legally amended.” Id., § 457. More…