State v. Ross

In State v. Ross (1967), 12 Ohio St.2d 37, 39, 231 N.E.2d 299, the Court held that: "Where a criminal statute does not clearly make a certain specific intent an element of the offense, but judicial interpretation has made such intent a necessary element, an indictment charging the offense solely in the language of the statute is insufficient." Id. at syllabus. While the rule permits an indictment to be in the words of the statute, the Ohio Supreme Court has recognized that "the courts might still require more to put the defendant on notice of the offense charged." "'The general rule that an indictment or information for a statutory offense is sufficient if the offense is charged in the words of the statute, either literally or substantially, or in equivalent words, does not apply when the statutory words do not in themselves fully, directly, and expressly, without uncertainty or ambiguity, set forth all the elements and ingredients necessary to constitute the offense intended to be punished.'" Id. at 39-40, quoting 4 Wharton's Criminal Law and Procedure 626.