An amendment is a change to an indictment or an information, which has the effect of correcting any defects in the indictment or the information. The amendment changes the wording of the indictment or the information so that it will not be subject to a defendant's motion to dismiss or motion to quash.

A court must give permission for an indictment or an information to be amended by a district attorney or a prosecutor. The district attorney or the prosecutor files a motion for leave to amend the indictment or the information. The filing of the motion does not amend the indictment or the information. It merely authorizes the changes to be made. If the motion is granted, the indictment or the information must then be physically amended by making the changes.

A district attorney or a prosecutor may not amend an indictment or an information by adding additional or different charges if a defendant objects to the amendment.

Some changes to an indictment or an information constitute an abandonment rather than an amendment of the indictment or the information. An amendment affects the substance of the indictment or the information. An abandonment does not affect the substance of the indictment or the information.

An abandonment of an indictment or an information includes a dismissal of certain counts, an enhancement of the counts, a deletion of the alternate means of an offense, and the elimination of an allegation, which reduces the offense to a lesser offense that is included within the offense.

When an indictment is changed to correct the name of a defendant, the correction is not an amendment. However, changing the name of the defendant in an information, which is based upon a complaint by a sworn witness, invalidates the complaint and the information.

A defendant may object to an amendment of an indictment or an information on the grounds that the amendment would prejudice his or her substantial rights. Even if the amendment does not charge additional or different offenses, it is improper if it prejudices the defendant's substantial rights. Issues involving the defendant's substantial rights include double jeopardy issues, that is, being tried twice for the same crime, and notice issues, which affect defendant's ability to prepare a defense.

A district attorney or a prosecutor may amend an indictment or an information, with permission of a trial court, at any time prior to the commencement of a trial. The district attorney or the prosecutor must give notice of the amendment to a defendant. The district attorney or the prosecutor may amend the indictment or the information on the date of the trial or after the trial has started only if the defendant does not object to the amendment. However, the district attorney or the prosecutor may amend the indictment or the information after the trial has commenced and over the defendant's objections if the amendment constitutes an abandonment of an alternative allegation or if the defendant is being charged with a lesser offense that is included within the offense.

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