Rhode Island General Laws
R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-12-2 (2026)
Process in fictitious name or by description
✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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In case the name of the person to be proceeded against is unknown, the indictment, information, complaint, warrant, or other criminal process may be found or issued against him or her by a fictitious name or by any description that the prosecutor or complainant may select, and the error or defect may be afterwards amended by the court.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1
case, 1980–1980 · leading case: State v. O'BRIEN, 412 A.2d 231 (R.I. 1980).
State v. O'BRIEN, 412 A.2d 231 (R.I. 1980). “When a person who allegedly committed criminal acts is *758 known, and he is positively identified by his accuser and himself as the person who perpetrated those acts, his name is superfluous to the trial of that crime.”
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