ZIMMERMAN, Justice:
Steven Bell appeals from a conviction of racketeering by means of drug trafficking. Bell asserts that he was not given sufficiently detailed notice of the charges against him to enable him to prepare a defense. We agree and therefore reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial. We also address several issues which may arise in a subsequent trial.
During 1982 and 1983, Weber County authorities conducted a broad investigation of cocaine trafficking allegedly perpetrated by Molly Kingston and a number of individuals associated with her, including Steven Bell. There was evidence that Bell, who owned a convenience store, trafficked in cocaine on the store premises and deposited drug receipts in the store bank accounts.
A grand jury indicted Bell on racketeering charges pursuant to Utah’s “RICE” or “Little RICO” statute, Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-10-1601 to -1608 (Supp.1983).1 The [102] grand jury also indicted several other individuals associated with the group that prosecutors termed the “Molly Kingston organization.” A number of other persons investigated were granted immunity, and some were required to testify against Bell.
Bell was tried before a jury, found guilty of racketeering, and sentenced to one to fifteen years’ imprisonment. In a subsequent forfeiture proceeding, for which a jury was waived, the trial judge found that Bell had used his convenience store as a “vehicle of sale” of the cocaine and had invested proceeds of the cocaine dealing in the store. Pursuant to section 76-10-1603 of the Code, the court ordered the forfeiture of the convenience store and the land on which it is located. Pending the outcome of this appeal, service of the prison term was stayed and Bell was allowed to post a bond and continue to possess and operate the store.
Bell raises a plethora of claims. Because of the disposition we make of his appeal, we address only a few of them. Determinative of Bell’s appeal is his claim that he was given insufficient notice of the particulars of the charges against him.
The indictment against Bell consisted of a verbatim reprinting of the RICE statute and a simple allegation that Bell had violated the statute sometime between September 1982 and June 1983. Bell complained that the indictment was too vague and requested a bill of particulars. The State initially refused to provide a bill. Bell obtained a court order requiring one, and after much delay, the State provided a bill which Bell then challenged as also being too vague to give him adequate notice of [103] the charge. The State refused to amend the bill of particulars, and the trial court rejected Bell’s timely and persistent challenges to the adequacy of the notice he had received.
On appeal, Bell argues that the indictment alone was too vague to give him adequate notice of the charges, that the State’s response to his request for a bill of particulars was wholly inadequate, and that the trial court erred in not sustaining his objections on that ground and in refusing to grant a new trial. More specifically, Bell contends that the notice he received was inadequate to inform him of the State’s factual allegations as to what constituted an “enterprise” within the meaning of the RICE statute. Because the existence of an “enterprise” is an essential element of RICE crimes,2 Bell argues that the inadequate notice given on this point prejudiced his ability to prepare a defense, thus denying him the right to notice guaranteed by the Utah Constitution3 and by Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.4
The State argues that Bell was put on notice of the factual basis for the enterprise allegations by various documents, other than the indictment and the bill of particulars, and by information presented during various pretrial hearings.
Article I, section 12 of the Utah Constitution guarantees, “In criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right ... to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him [and] to have a copy thereof.” Utah Const. art. I, § 12. In State v. Fulton, 742 P.2d 1208 (Utah 1987), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 108 S.Ct. 777, 98 L.Ed.2d 864 (1988), we explained that this provision requires “that the accused be given sufficient information ‘so that he [or she] can know the particulars of the alleged wrongful conduct and can adequately prepare his [or her] defense.’ ” Id. at 1214 (quoting State v. Burnett, 712 P.2d 260, 262 (Utah 1985)); see also State v. Taylor, 14 Utah 2d 107, 108, 378 P.2d 352, 353 (1963); State v. Myers, 5 Utah 2d 365, 372, [104] 302 P.2d 276, 280 (1956).5
Fulton also explained that this constitutional right to notice is normally implemented through Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 4, which governs, inter alia, the contents of informations, indictments, and bills of particulars. See 742 P.2d at 1214; Utah R.Crim.P. 4 (codified at Utah Code Ann. § 77-35-4 (1982)). Rule 4(b)6 provides for the commencement of a criminal action by filing an information or indictment. Although an information may be accompanied by a fact statement detailing the prosecution’s contentions in support of the charges, an information or indictment is legally sufficient even if it consists of nothing more than an extremely summary statement of the charge that would not provide the accused with sufficient particulars to prepare an adequate defense. Fulton, 742 P.2d at 1214; Utah R.Crim.P. 4(b). When an indictment or information legally sufficient under rule 4(b) does not provide the notice guaranteed by article I, section 12, the accused may request a bill of particulars under rule 4(e).7 Once such a request is made, the accused is entitled to receive, and the State has the burden of providing, a written8 bill of particulars which, in conjunction with the indictment or information, gives notice of the particulars of the charges in sufficient factual detail to enable the accused to prepare an adequate defense. Fulton, 742 P.2d at 1214; State v. Robbins, 709 P.2d 771, 773 (Utah 1985); Utah R.Crim.P. 4(e).
Applying these standards to the present case, the first question is whether the indictment was itself detailed enough to give Bell sufficient notice of the charges. The indictment merely repeated verbatim the broad, vague language of the RICE statute without describing any facts or circumstances constituting the crime charged other than a statement that the crime had been committed during a ten-month period.9 This indictment met the minimal stan[105] dards of rule 4(b), see Fulton, 742 P.2d at 1208, but by no stretch of the imagination did it provide Bell with sufficient notice of the facts underlying the charges to enable him to prepare an adequate defense.10
The next question is whether Bell exercised his right to seek more particular notice by requesting a bill of particulars under rule 4(e) and, thus, preserved his claim of error. Bell did submit a timely request that the State provide a bill of particulars describing the factual basis for the element of racketeering activity and specifically explaining “what enterprise is alleged as being involved.” Therefore, under rule 4(e), the State had the burden of providing an adequate bill of particulars.
The final question is whether the State met that burden. The answer is that it did not. At first, the State ignored Bell’s request. Bell then secured a court order directing that the bill be provided. The State delayed further, but ultimately provided this brief response:
1. Specific activities of racketeering include those listed in the wiretap and those provided in the transcripts of the Grand Jury.
2. As to a statement of what consitu-tites [sic] a racketeering activity, this calls for a legal conclusion and is beyond factual information necessary to set forth an essential elements [sic] of the offense charged. Defendant should clearly realize this.
3. Enterprise consists of the traffic-ing [sic] in controlled substances and investing the proceeds.
Before this Court, Bell focuses his argument on the enterprise element addressed in paragraph 3 of the bill of particulars. He argues that the brief reply was not adequately detailed to put him on notice of the alleged factual basis for the element of an enterprise. Under rule 4(e), a bill of particulars must contain sufficient “factual information ... to set forth the essential elements of the particular offense charged.” The ultimate test of the adequacy of such a statement, as noted above, is that the accused be enabled to prepare a defense.
The record shows that at trial, the State presented three theories as to who or what factually constituted the enterprise: Bell as an individual, the group of persons associated with Molly Kingston, or Bell’s convenience store. By no stretch of the imagination could the single enigmatic sentence in paragraph 3 of the State’s reply to Bell’s request be construed as containing sufficient factual information to describe the State’s actual theories of this essential element of the crime, much less to permit Bell to prepare his defense on this element.11 Although Bell persistently objected to the inadequacy of the bill of particulars, the State refused to amend or supplement the bill as it would have been permitted to do under rule 4(e). The State failed to meet the burden of notice imposed on it by rule 4(e), and the trial court’s failure to enforce this requirement was clearly error under the plain language of rule 4(e), as well as the standards described in Fulton.
The next question is whether this error was harmless or prejudicial. Because the error was in violation of a rule of criminal procedure, its harmfulness is analyzed under the standard provided by Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 30. Utah [106] R.Crim.P. 30(a) (codified at Utah Code Ann. § 77-35-30(a) (1982)).12 Under rule 30, an error in a criminal prosecution requires reversal when we conclude that, absent the error, there was a reasonable likelihood of a result more favorable to the accused. State v. Knight, 734 P.2d 913, 919-21 (Utah 1987). Phrased differently, the test is whether our confidence in the outcome of the trial is eroded. Id. at 920. Applying the erosion of confidence test to a failure to give adequate notice of charges, we first ask how the error impeded the accused’s ability to prepare for trial and to meet the State’s case. At trial, the State presented three alternative theories as to what constituted the essential element of an enterprise. The specific question, then, is whether the State’s failure to notify Bell of these three factual bases for the allegations of a RICE enterprise so impeded his ability to prepare a defense to those allegations as to require a reversal under rule 30.
Ordinarily, the practical effect of the standard imposed by rule 30 is to place on the accused the burden of persuading this Court that, in light of all the circumstances revealed through the record as a whole, there is a reasonable likelihood that the trial result would have been more favorable absent the error. See Knight, 734 P.2d at 919-21; State v. Jones, 657 P.2d 1263, 1267 (Utah 1982); State v. Hamilton, 18 Utah 2d 234, 239, 419 P.2d 770, 773 (1966). However, as we stated in Knight, in some circumstances the nature of the error involved is such that this de facto burden should be shifted and the State required to persuade us that the error was harmless. 734 P.2d at 920-21. In Knight, the prosecution violated the rules of discovery by failing to provide the accused with certain evidence prior to trial. We first found that because of the nature of the error, it was difficult for this Court to determine from the record whether Knight might have been able to prepare a better defense and achieve a more favorable result at trial if the prosecution had not breached its discovery obligations. Id. at 920. We then held that under such circumstances, if the accused could make a credible argument that the prosecutor’s errors impaired the defense, it would be appropriate “to place the burden on the State to persuade a court that the error did not unfairly prejudice the defense.” Id. at 920-21.
We are faced with analogous circumstances in this case. First, as in Knight, the record “cannot reveal how [adequate notice of the charges] would have affected the actions of defense counsel, either in preparing for trial or in presenting the case to the jury.” Id. at 920. Second, Bell has met the requirement of making “a credible argument that the prosecutor’s errors have impaired the defense.” Id. at 921.
In Knight, we noted that in assessing whether the defendant’s argument of prejudicial impairment rang sufficiently true to warrant shifting the burden of persuasion to the State, we would take into account the centrality of the matter affected by the prosecutor’s errors. Id. In this case, the error involved an essential element of the crime charged. Clearly Bell’s defense to the State’s case on the element of an enterprise was central to the outcome, and therefore, the error “assumes heightened importance when evaluating whether the [107] defense might have been impaired.” Id. Bell contends that the prosecution’s failure to sufficiently notify him of the factual basis for its allegations left him unable to make pretrial preparation for a defense or to counter the State’s evidence and arguments at trial. Given the plausibility of this contention and the critical nature of the issue involved, we conclude that Bell has made a credible argument that his defense was impaired by the error.
Under Knight, then, we place on the State the burden of persuading us that the error was harmless under the standard of rule 30. The State makes only one argument in attempting to meet this burden. It argues that Bell was not prejudiced because he was effectively put on notice of the State’s various theories of what constituted the element of an enterprise through the course of certain pretrial proceedings. The State refers to a complaint filed in a separate proceeding seeking forfeiture of Bell’s convenience store,13 to an in-court discussion at a hearing on that forfeiture complaint, and to materials provided to Bell through pretrial discovery, including transcripts of grand jury witnesses’ testimony and transcripts of telephone conversations recorded pursuant to a wiretap order. The State argues that through reading the indictment and bill of particulars in the context of these other sources of information, Bell must have gotten adequate notice of the charges.
This argument fails. Our review of the record leaves us unconvinced that Bell did in fact receive adequate notice through these convoluted means. None of the sources pointed to by the State explicitly laid out the three enterprise theories later presented at trial. Nor do we think that the three allegations are necessarily implicit in these sources of information, even when they are taken as a whole. Thus, the State has failed to meet its burden.
Also, we think it important to clarify that we reject the implication of the State’s argument: that the State, having failed to provide even a minimally adequate bill of particulars despite persistent requests from Bell, can excuse that failure under the guise of harmless error by claiming that Bell had pretrial access to a mass of various items of information from which, one can conclude in hindsight, Bell could have gleaned the State’s theories for the essential elements of the crimes charged. For this Court to accept such an argument would not only vitiate the specific requirements of rule 4(e), it would negate the accused’s constitutional right, implemented by rule 4(e), to “have a copy” of a document setting out in clear terms “the nature and cause of the accusation.” Utah Const, art. I, § 12; State v. Fulton, 742 P.2d at 1214. A defendant, having complied with the procedural requirements of rule 4(e) in requesting a bill of particulars, ought not to have to look beyond the indictment or information and the bill of particulars to obtain sufficient notice of the specific allegations to be faced at trial.
The State has not met its Knight burden of persuading this Court that the failure to provide an adequate bill of particulars did not unfairly prejudice Bell’s ability to prepare and present a defense. Therefore, we reverse Bell’s conviction and remand for a new trial with instructions that Bell be given an adequate bill of particulars.14
Bell has also appealed from the order forfeiting his interest in the convenience store. He claims numerous errors [108] in the proceedings leading to that forfeiture order. Because we have reversed the conviction on which the forfeiture order rested, we also vacate the forfeiture order without considering the various claims of error.15
Bell has raised a large number of other claims of error with regard to the pretrial and trial proceedings, some of which are plainly frivolous. Given our reversal of the conviction and remand for retrial, we need not sort what is arguably wheat from chaff in all of those thirty-five claims. However, some of the issues are likely to recur in a new trial and are of arguable merit, and in the interest of judicial economy, we will briefly address them to provide the trial court with some guidance. See State v. Cloud, 722 P.2d 750, 755 (Utah 1986).
Bell argues that the RICE statute violates the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment16 because it is so vague that it “fails to inform an ordinary citizen who is seeking to obey the laws as to the conduct sought to be proscribed,” State v. Bradshaw, 541 P.2d 800, 802 (Utah 1975). The Utah Court of Appeals recently considered a similar argument in State v. Thompson, 751 P.2d 805, 815 (Utah Ct. App.1988), and found that the RICE Act does not deny due process on this ground. Bell has presented no persuasive arguments for holding differently on the record now before us, and we decline to do so.17 We note that the federal RICO statutes after which RICE is patterned have been upheld against similar vagueness challenges. See, e.g., United States v. Tripp, 782 F.2d 38, 42 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1128, 106 S.Ct. 1656, 90 L.Ed.2d 199 (1986), and cases cited therein.
We do, however, recognize that the RICE statute is broad in scope and is phrased in vague terms. As Bell has argued, this breadth and vagueness creates a related problem, the difficulty of framing jury instructions based on the elements of the crime as they are defined by the statute. On remand, we caution the trial court to examine the instructions to ensure that they give the jury a more explicit understanding of the elements of the particular crime charged than is possible with instrue-[109] tions which merely repeat the statute.18
Bell also claims error in allowing the jury to render a general verdict rather than a special verdict or general verdict with interrogatories. Given our disposition of this appeal, we do not reach the claim of error. However, we note for future reference that the RICE statute lends itself to confusion, particularly in cases such as this, in which the State presents multiple theories as to what constitutes the enterprise, the pattern of racketeering activity, and the relationship between these elements. Appellate review of such cases would be greatly enhanced by a form of verdict which would allow the appellate court to determine on which of the various theories the jury based its decision.19 See Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-10-1601 to -1609; Utah R.Civ.P. 49 (made applicable to criminal cases by Utah R.Civ.P. 81(e)); cf. State v. Lafferty, 749 P.2d 1239, 1260 & n. 16 (Utah 1988) (asserting this Court’s supervisory powers to require that sentencing bodies, whether judge or jury, make certain written findings to aid in appellate review); United States v. Coonan, 839 F.2d 886, 889-91 (2d Cir.1988) (finding the use of interrogatories and special verdicts proper in RICO cases).
Next, Bell claims that he was wrongfully denied access to transcripts of testimony given before the grand jury. Bell obtained a court order compelling the State to produce transcripts of testimony pertaining to Bell. Before the trial, he was provided with transcripts of testimony given prior to the time he was indicted. The grand jury continued taking testimony after Bell’s indictment because it was investigating other targets. Bell claims he was given only incomplete, and therefore inadequate, access to transcripts of some pertinent testimony given after his indictment. This, he contends, was in violation of the court order and prejudiced his ability to prepare a defense.20 The briefs of both parties and the record provided here are inadequate to enable us to determine whether the State failed to comply with the discovery order and whether any such failure constituted prejudicial error. Under these circumstances, we decline to do more than express a concern that Bell be given access to transcripts of testimony that he is entitled to under the discovery provisions of the Utah [110] Rules of Criminal Procedure. See Utah R.Crim.P. 16.
Bell asserts that prosecutors wrongfully interfered with his obtaining the testimony of a witness, Sherrie Prince. Prince was charged along with other members of the “Molly Kingston organization” and was allowed to enter into a plea bargain. Bell claims that Prince would have provided exculpatory testimony for Bell but for the fact that prosecutors threatened to revoke the plea bargain if she did so. He contends that this was prosecutorial misconduct and violated his right to present a defense. As the State argues, there is some doubt as to whether Bell adequately raised the issue with the trial court. Given our disposition of this appeal, we need not rule on Bell’s claim. However, we observe that if on retrial Bell seeks to call Prince as a witness and the State interferes in the manner that Bell alleges has already occurred,21 such intimidation of a witness would constitute an intolerable interference with Bell’s right to present witnesses for his defense. See, e.g., United States v. MacCloskey, 682 F.2d 468, 479 (4th Cir.1982); United States v. Henricksen, 564 F.2d 197, 198 (5th Cir. 1977).
Bell also makes two claims of error with respect to evidence admitted at his trial. First, he argues that certain hearsay evidence was conditionally admitted subject to being “tied up” but never was tied up. The police searched the homes of several suspects and seized various pieces of paper which, according to the State, are informal records of drug transactions. Some of the papers had the name “Steve” written on them. Bell objected to the introduction of those papers on various grounds, including a hearsay objection. The State argued that they were admissible under the hearsay rule exception for business records. Utah Rule of Evidence 803(6) provides for the admission of hearsay materials which are records kept of regularly conducted activities, so long as certain foundational requirements are met. See, e.g., State v. Sutton, 707 P.2d 681, 683 (Utah 1985); State v. Bertul, 664 P.2d 1181, 1183 (Utah 1983). Bell now argues that the State never tied up the evidence by laying adequate foundation to show that the papers met the requirements of the business records exception. If the State should offer these papers as evidence in a new trial and argue their admissibility under rule 803(6), we caution the trial court to scrutinize carefully the evidence and the circumstances under which it is offered to ensure that the papers are admissible under the hearsay rule exception.
Second, Bell claims that the State was improperly allowed to introduce evidence of other crimes he may have committed but which were not charged. A few days prior to the trial, the State sought to amend the indictment to include additional incidences of drug trafficking. That motion was properly denied because of the likelihood of unfair surprise to Bell. At trial, however, the State’s witnesses were allowed to testify about numerous sales and purchases of drugs made by Bell and employees at Bell’s store which occurred before the period of time set out in the indictment. The court did give a limiting instruction concerning this evidence.
Bell argues that the prior illegal activities were irrelevant to the crimes actually charged and that the evidence should have been excluded under Utah Rule of Evidence 403 because any relevance was outweighed by prejudicial effect on the jury. He also argues that the limiting instruction was inadequate. The State counters that [111] the evidence was properly admitted under Utah Rule of Evidence 404(b), which allows the admission of evidence of other crimes only for certain limited purposes, including proof of motive and intent. See Utah R.Evid. 404(b). The record does not clearly indicate on what basis the trial court admitted the evidence or whether it considered the potential prejudicial effect of the evidence under rule 403.
We agree with Bell that this evidence has a high potential for prejudice. It is distinctly possible that this evidence influenced the jury to convict Bell without regard to the strength of the evidence on the crimes actually charged. On remand, we caution the trial court to admit the evidence of other crimes only after it has conducted a careful weighing of the probative value and potential prejudicial effect of the evidence and has found it admissible. See Utah R.Evid. 403.22
Bell also argues that the limiting instruction given was inadequate to overcome the prejudicial effects of the other crimes evidence. The instruction was merely a general instruction that made no reference to specific evidence.23 We agree with Bell that under the circumstances, such a general instruction, given at the end of the trial, was unlikely to overcome any undue prejudice caused by admission of the evidence. On remand, if the trial court finds the evidence admissible under rules 404(b) and 403, we caution it to consider whether the prejudicial effects of the evidence might best be overcome by expressly limiting its admission so as to make plain the narrow purposes for which it may legitimately be considered.
Bell’s remaining arguments have been considered and found either lacking in merit or likely to be obviated by the reversal and remand for retrial.
We reverse the conviction for violation of the RICE statute, vacate the forfeiture order, and remand with instructions that Bell be granted a new trial.
HALL, C.J., and DURHAM, J., concur.
HOWE, Associate C.J., concurs, but does not join in footnote 14.