United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77 (1927)

Wong Tai v. United States

No. 79

Argued November 24, 1926

Decided January 3, 1927

273 U.S. 77

Syllabus

1. The Court need not consider objections not contained in the assignment of errors but set out for the first time in the briefs filed here. P. 78.

2. To comply with the Sixth Amendment, an indictment must be sufficiently specific to advise the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation in order that he may meet it and prepare for trial and, after judgment, be able to plead the record and judgment in bar of a further prosecution for the same offense. P. 273 U. S. 80.

3. In an indictment for conspiring to commit an offense, in which the conspiracy is the gist of the crime, it is not necessary to allege with technical precision all the elements essential to the commission of the offense which is the object of the conspiracy, or to state such object with the detail which would be required in an indictment for committing the substantive offense. P. 273 U. S. 81.

4. An application for a bill of particulars in a criminal case is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. P. 273 U. S. 82.

5. An exception is necessary for review of an alleged assigned error in charging a jury. P. 273 U. S. 83.

Affirmed.

Error to a judgment of the district court in a prosecution for conspiracy to commit offenses against the United states in violation of the Opium Act.

Page 273 U. S. 78