State v. Pond

The defendant appeals his two convictions for felonious sexual assault, RSA 632-A:3, III, after a jury trial in the Superior Court (Dalianis, J.) and raises the following question for our review: whether the trial court impermissibly amended the felonious sexual assault indictments, which charged that the defendant acted knowingly, by instructing the jury that the State must prove the defendant acted purposely. We hold that the term “knowingly” in the indictments constituted harmless surplusage, and that the trial court properly instructed the jury that they must find the defendant acted…