§ 135.715 Effect of nonprejudicial defects in form of accusatory instrument

If a criminal charge document has a small mistake in how it's written or formatted, that mistake alone won't get the case thrown out. Courts only care about problems that actually hurt the defendant's ability to get a fair hearing on the real issues in the case.

In other words, minor typos, wording issues, or technical slip-ups in the charging paperwork don't count as a big deal by themselves. The trial, the judgment, and everything else in the case can still move forward and stay valid, as long as the mistake didn't cause real harm to the defendant's rights.

This rule exists so cases aren't dismissed over small paperwork errors that don't change the outcome or fairness of the process. What matters is substance, not perfect form. If a defendant wants to challenge a charging document because of a defect, they need to show it actually affected their ability to defend themselves, not just point out that something was written imperfectly.