Mont. Code Ann. » TITLE 46. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · CHAPTER 11. COMMENCEMENT OF PROSECUTION · Part 1. Methods of Commencing Prosecution
Montana Code Annotated

Mont. Code Ann. § 46-11-110 (2026)

Filing Complaint

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. MCA Contents
  2. TITLE 46
  3. CHAPTER 11
  4. Part 1
  5. 46-11-110 Filing complaint

TITLE 46. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 11. COMMENCEMENT OF PROSECUTION

Part 1. Methods of Commencing Prosecution

Filing Complaint

46-11-110. Filing complaint. When a complaint is presented to a court charging a person with the commission of an offense, the court shall examine the sworn complaint or any affidavits, if filed, to determine whether probable cause exists to allow the filing of a charge.

History: En. Sec. 96, Ch. 800, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 14, Ch. 262, L. 1993.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1996–2021 · leading case: State v. Ditton, 2006 MT 235 (Mont. 2006).
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State v. Ditton, 2006 MT 235 (Mont. 2006). · cites it 130× “Although not in writing, the Municipal Court Judge did make the necessary determination under § 46-11-110 MCA that there was probable cause for filing the charge.”
State v. Allum, 2005 MT 150 (Mont. 2005). · cites it 52× “Allum argues that § 46-11-102, MCA, and § 46-11-110, MCA, require the State to file a sworn complaint at the commencement of a prosecution.”
State v. Ditton, 2009 MT 57 (Mont. 2009). · cites it 32× “Ditton argues that under § 46-11-110, MCA, the Municipal Court was required to examine the complaint and any supporting affidavits and make a judicial determination that probable cause for the DUI charge was present.”
State v. Johnson, 918 P.2d 293 (Mont. 1996). · cites it 5× “Section 46-11-110, MCA; Section 46-6-201, MCA.”
State v. Haller, 2013 MT 199 (Mont. 2013). · cites it 3× “Section 46-11-110, MCA, also gives a defendant a right to a judicial determination of probable cause before the prosecution can be commenced in justice court.”
State v. Dist. Court of the Eighteenth Jud. Dist. of Montana, 2010 MT 263 (Mont. 2010). “See §§46-11-110, -201(2), MCA. In the present case, for example, the affidavit of probable cause identified most of th« evidence now at issue, thus giving Anderson ample opportunity tc raise objections to that evidence without the need for a separate notice ¶43 The Just Court…”
State v. Neal E. Fehringer, 2013 MT 10 (Mont. 2013). · cites it 5× “¶24 The charge against Fehringer arose from the notice to appear and *232 complaint on a form prepared by Deputy Eckart.”
City of Bozeman v. Dumas, III, 2021 MT 213N (Mont. 2021). · cites it 2× “To establish probable cause, the State need not establish a prima facie case Dumas committed the offenses, but rather needed to show only a probability that he did.”
City of Bozeman v. Dumas, III, 2021 MT 213N (Mont. 2021). · cites it 2× “To establish probable cause, the State need not establish a prima facie case Dumas committed the offenses, but rather needed to show only a probability that he did.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.