State v. McGovernState v. McGovern
*116 The opinion of the court was delivered by
Thе defendant moves to quash two indictments upon the grounds (1) that they are insufficient in that they fail to charge thе commission of a crime and fail to inform the defendant of the nature and cause of the ■accusation, (2) that they are so vague and uncertain that an acquittal thereon would not assure subsequent protection against double jeopardy, and (3) that they fail to charge the establishment of any fingerрrint system of identification by the Superintendent of the State Police and to charge that any forms had bеen prescribed.
The defendant was sheriff of the County of Hudson.
The essential statutory provision is R. S. 53 :1-15 which provides:
“The sheriffs * * * shall immediately upon the arrest of any person for an indictable offеnse, or of any person believed to be wanted for an indictable offense, or believed to bе an habitual criminal, take the fingerprints of such person according to the fingerprint system of identificаtion established by the superintendent of state police and on the forms prescribed, and forward withоut delay two copies or more of the same, together with photographs and- such other descriptions as may be required and with a history. of the offense committed, to the state bureau of identificаtion.”
The indictments, in so far as the questions at issue go, are of like content, and the consideration оf one will answer for both.
The indictment charges generally that McGovern as sheriff was charged with the duty to take fingerprints immediately of such persons as are arrested for an indictable offense acсording to the fingerprint system of identification established by the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police and on the forms prescribed and to forward the same without delay, two copies or more of the same, together with photographs and such other descriptions as may be required and with a history оf the offense committed to the New Jersey State Bureau of Identification. The indictment continues with thе allegation that the grand inquest of the County of Hudson, on October 24th, 1944, returned a-true bill of indict *117 nient against Robеrt A. O’Brien, William P. Black and M. James McLaughlin for conspiracy to cheat and defraud the City of Jersey City of its moneys derived from the taxation of real and personal properties and that the said defendants accordingly appeared before the bar of the court, were arrested and arraignеd for pleading to the knowledge of the said McGovern, but that nevertheless the said McGovern, disregarding his duty, continuously, unlawfully and willfully neglected and omitted to perform such duty as aforesaid and to use and exerсise reasonable and effective means within big power as such sheriff for the enforcement of thе fingerprint laws of the state and in particular 53 15 of the New Jersey Revised Statutes and on the contrary did then and there unlawfully and willfully permit the fingerprint laws, and in particular R. S. 53:1-15, to he disregarded and violated, &o.
It will be observed that the recital of the offense in the indictment follows almost verbatim the provisions of the statute, 53:1 — 15, which are twice later in the indictment sрecifically referred to as the particular provision of the law which has been violated. Thе indictment, in substance, is a charge that the defendant as sheriff violated those enumerated provisions of the statute. Violations of statutory duties by a public officer not only are indictable as acts оf non-feasance and malfeasance under the common law; hut the particular omission herе charged is a statutory offense under R. S. 53:1-20 which provides: “Any officer mentioned in this article who shall negleсt or refuse to make any report or to do any act required by any provision of this article shall hе guilty of a misdemeanor * *
Where the words of the statute are descriptive of the offense, it is ordinarily suffiсient to charge the offense in the language of the statute or in words of similar import, Levine v. State, 110 N. J. L. 467, 471, subject to the qualification that the crime must be set forth with dearness and necessary certainty to apprise the рarty accused of the offense with which he stands charged, State v. Bradway, 118 Id. 17. We find it satisfactorily clear that the indictment charges that McGovern as sheriff was under the duty, on the arrest of O’Brien and others diarged with an indictable offense, to *118 fingerprint them and to subject them to the incidents of fingerprinting and that McGovern, although he knew his duty in that respect, willfully neglected and omitted to perform it.
The indictments are sufficient to charge the commission of a crime and they inform the-defendant of the nature and cause thereof; also, they are sufficiently certain to give the defendant, if convicted thereon, protection against double jeopardy should he ever be charged again on the same grounds. Inasmuch as the charge is laid in the language of the statute and the elements of it are made clear, we find no fatal defect in thе omission of an allegation that the fingerprint s/stem of identification had in fact been established by the Superintendent of State Police.
We have also examined the brief which is submitted in common with pending motions by other defendants and the common depositions and common exhibits upon which the same is founded and find no substance therein. See State v. Grundy, 136 N. J. L. 96, decided contemporaneously herewith.
The motion to quash will be denied and the writ of certiorari will be dismissed, with costs.