State v. Pachmayr

This is a criminal case in which the trial court allowed the district attorney to amend an indictment at the close of the state’s case-in-chief. On appeal from that decision, the Court of Appeals held that Article VII (Amended), section 5, of the Oregon Constitution mandated that the grand jury, rather than the district attorney, make that amendment. We conclude that the indictment was defective in form only, and that the trial court correctly permitted the district attorney to amend it. We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and affirm defendant’s conviction.

Defendant drove a car…