Notice of Proof Offered at Trial

A person's right under the Sixth Amendment to a reasonable degree of notice of the charges against him is incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and it therefore cannot be taken away by the states. In many law suits and appeals fair notice and other types of due process claims are available in habeas corpus. Thomas contends that the murder indictment contained all of the elements of first degree felony murder, that the proof that was offered at trial varied from the indictment, and that the state of Kentucky in effect modified or amended the indictment by trying him for first degree felony murder even though that was not the offense committed. He therefore claims that he did not have any reasonable notice in the least of the charges against him until it was too late and that his sixth amendment and fourteenth amendment due process rights were violated.