§ 135.733 Defamation

If someone is charged with criminal defamation, the formal charging document does not need to spell out all the background details explaining how the statement applied to the person who was defamed. The document can simply state, in general terms, that the defamatory statement was made about that person.

However, this doesn't mean the prosecution gets an easy pass. At trial, the state still has to actually prove that the statement was about the person named in the case. The charging paperwork can be brief, but the evidence presented in court must back it up.