190 S.W.2d 553 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1945
Reversing.
Appellant was indicted, convicted, and fined $100 and costs, for violating the provisions of KRS
"It is a settled rule of criminal pleading, and one which has been consistently followed by this court, that, when the words of a statute creating an offense are descriptive of the offense, an indictment under it should substantially follow the language of the statute and expressly charge the offense as described in the statute, otherwise the indictment will be defective. (Citations follow.)
"It logically follows that where a necessary ingredient of the offense, and the one constituting its gravamen contained in the statute, is omitted from the indictment, it is fatally defective."
It follows that the demurrer should have been sustained to the indictment, if, before its amendment, it failed to allege substantially every element of the offense. *808
KRS
The indictment, before amendment, is in the following language:
Since, by the indictment under which it was tried, appellant was not accused of the crime denounced in KRS
The judgment is reversed, for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.