254 A.2d 423 | R.I. | 1969
This is a criminal complaint which charges that the defendant “Did allow, permit and suffer a certain motor vehicle registered in its name to stand and park on South Water Street in said City of Providence in violation of the Traffic Regulations of the City of Providence and all amendments and additions thereto.” The defendant, after being found guilty as charged in the police court of the city of Providence, appealed to the superior court, where the case was tried to a justice of that court sitting without a jury. The defendant was found guilty and is now prosecuting a bill of exceptions in this court.
The defendant contends, inter alia, that the trial justice committed reversible error in failing to dismiss the complaint as being so vague and indefinite as to fail to afford it adequate notice of the nature of the accusation. The defendant argues that where such circumstances are disclosed on the record, the trial justice must, acting sua sponte, dismiss the case for violation of its constitutional right to be informed with reasonable certainty of the nature of the accusation against it.
It appears that the trial justice was of the opinion that the complaint was “ 'so lacking in definiteness that a person of ordinary intelligence could not know’ the precise nature of the offense with which he or it was charged.”
The rule is well settled in this state that in criminal cases, absent some peculiar circumstance, we will not review the rulings of a trial justice where formal objection thereto or some proper plea has not been made by the defendant. State v. Hartman, 65 R. I. 174, 14 A.2d 18. However, where rigid adherence to the procedural requirement would deprive the defendant of its basic constitutional right, we will relax the strict procedural requirement and allow the defendant to raise the constitutional issue in an informal manner in this court. State v. Quattrocchi, 103 R. I. 115, 235 A.2d 99. In State v. Frazier, 103 R. I. 199, 235 A.2d 886, we stated that the rule is well settled in this court that in criminal cases “* * unless a defendant takes a timely exception to the actions of a trial justice which he believes to be wrong, he is foreclosed from arguing their error for the first time on appeal.” We further said, citing State v. Quattrocchi, supra, that “The only time we will deviate from a strict compliance with the above rule is in those cases where it is shown that the defendant has suffered an abridgement of his basic constitutional rights.”
In the instant case the defendant has for the first time
The case is remitted to the superior court with direction to dismiss the complaint and discharge the defendant.