Judge Gerri Pickett
Washington, charged with assault, and harassment, among other things, moved to dismiss the information arguing it was jurisdictionally defective as the complaint was never converted because complainant did not read it. Complainant testified she signed the supporting deposition as to what took place on the date of the alleged offense. Defense counsel noted complainant’s testimony was not what the complaint stated, and she indicated she never saw the complaint. Despite same, the court ruled the complaint contained statements of fact of an evidentiary nature providing reasonable cause to believe Washington committed each of the charged crimes. Also, it stated when complainant signed the supporting deposition, the complaint was converted into an information, and when she testified as to what occurred, she corroborated the complaint’s contents. Thus, the omission to read the complaint before signing the supporting deposition constituted a latent, non-jurisdictional, defect as it was brought to the court’s attention after the commencement of trial during cross examination. Thus, as the defect was cured by complainant’s testimony at trial, Washington’s motion to dismiss due to a jurisdictional defect was denied.
