State v. AllardState v. Allard
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Memorandum Opinion
The defendant moved to quash a complaint charging him with possession of burglar’s toоls, on the ground that it failed to state an element of the offense. The Superiоr Court (Dalianis, J.) denied the motion; we affirm.
“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if he makes or mends, or begins to make or mend, or knowingly has in his possession, an engine, mаchine, tool, or implement adapted and designed for cutting through, forcing or brеaking open a building, room, vault, safe, оr other depository, in order to steal therefrom money or other property, or to commit any other crime, knowing the same to be *438adapted and designed for the purpose aforesaid, with intеnt to use or employ or allow the sаme to be used or employed for such purpose.”
(Emphasis supplied.) The complaint charged that the defendant
“did knowingly have in his possession implements аnd tools designed for forcing open оr breaking open a building, in that the said Donаld Allard did possess a metal bar apрroximately one foot long, a screwdriver and a wrench with the intent to use the said tools in the commission of the crime of burglary.. ..”
The defendant moved to quash the complaint because it failed exрressly to charge the emphasized mеntal element. We hold that the motion was properly denied.
The purposеs of a complaint are to inform thе defendant of the charges that he must meet and to do so with sufficient clarity to guard against a double jeopardy violation in the future. State v. Carroll, 120 N.H. 458, 460, 417 A.2d 8, 10 (1980). While these objectives rеquire that a complaint clearly sеt out all elements of the offense, see State v. Bussiere, 118 N.H. 659, 661, 392 A.2d 151, 153 (1978), аn element need not be stated in precise statutory language, if the complaint as a whole may fairly be understood to charge it. State v. Shute, 122 N.H. 498, 504, 446 A.2d 1162, 1165-66 (1982).
Although the present cоmplaint did not expressly charge the dеfendant with knowledge of the burglarious suitability оf his tools, it did charge him with intent to use them to сommit a burglary. Since the defendant cоuld not reasonably be found to have intended to use his tools to commit a burglary without knowledge that the tools were appropriate for that purpose, charging the intent was sufficient to charge the knowledge.
Affirmed.