Summary
The North Dakota Supreme Court granted a supervisory writ directing the district court to allow the State to amend its criminal complaint against Ward County Sheriff Steven Kukowski to correct the alleged offense date from 2015 to 2014. The Court held that the date was not an essential element of the charged misdemeanors, the amendment did not charge an additional or different offense, and Kukowski’s substantial rights were not prejudiced. The Court concluded that the district court had misapplied the law and abused its discretion.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Supreme Court should exercise supervisory jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of the State's motion to amend the criminal complaint.
- Whether the date of the alleged conduct was an essential element of the charged offenses under N.D.C.C. §§ 12.1-11-06 and 12.1-17-03.
- Whether correcting the offense year from 2015 to 2014 charged an additional or different offense or substantially prejudiced the defendant's rights under N.D.R.Crim.P. 3(c).
Holdings
- The Supreme Court may exercise its discretionary supervisory jurisdiction because the case presented extraordinary circumstances involving criminal allegations against an elected public official concerning an inmate's death and no adequate alternative remedy existed.
- The date of the alleged conduct was not an essential element of the offenses of refusing to perform a duty imposed by law and reckless endangerment.
- The State's proposed amendment corrected a clerical error, did not charge an additional or different offense, and did not prejudice Kukowski's substantial rights; therefore, the district court abused its discretion by denying the amendment.
Key quotations
“We exercise our authority to issue supervisory writs rarely and cautiously, and only to rectify errors and prevent injustice in extraordinary cases when no adequate alternative remedy exists.” (¶ 6)
“We hold that unless time is an essential element of an offense, it is not required in a criminal prosecution that the crime be proved to have been committed on the precise date or time period alleged in the complaint or information.” (¶ 14)
Factual background
The State charged Ward County Sheriff Steven Kukowski with two counts of reckless endangerment and one count of refusing to perform a duty imposed by law, arising from alleged inadequate medical care, staffing, training, and inmate-capacity conditions at the Ward County Correctional Center. The probable-cause affidavit described events involving inmate Dustin Irwin in October 2014, including Irwin's deteriorating condition, transportation to another facility, and subsequent death. The criminal complaint mistakenly alleged that the charged conduct occurred on or about October 6, 2015, although both the original and proposed dates fell within the applicable two-year misdemeanor limitations period.
Procedural history
The State charged Steven Kukowski with three class A misdemeanors based on alleged inadequate inmate care, but the complaint identified the conduct as occurring on or about October 6, 2015. Before trial, the State moved to amend the complaint to state that the conduct occurred in 2014, asserting the date was a clerical error. The district court denied the motion, concluding that time was an essential element of the offenses and that amendment would substantially prejudice Kukowski. The Supreme Court of North Dakota granted supervisory relief and directed the district court to permit the amendment.
Remand instructions
The district court was directed to grant the State's motion to amend the criminal complaint to allege that the charged conduct occurred in 2014 rather than 2015.