Opinion ID: 1140588
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: did the trial court err in overruling the motion to quash the indictment?

Text: Prior to trial, Benson filed a motion to quash the indictment alleging that the arrest warrant and the certificate of preliminary hearing were invalid. During the hearing on this motion, the parties stipulated that Benson had been arrested at Charter Food Store without a warrant; that subsequent to this arrest, an arrest warrant was issued; that a preliminary hearing was held which was presided over by Judge John Speights, not Doyle Forbes as set out on the certificate of preliminary hearing; that this certificate showed an erroneous charge of burglary; and that the grand jury of Marion County indicted Benson on a charge of robbery as a habitual offender. With these facts in mind, the trial court made the following finding and ruling: [T]he defendant was legally and lawfully arrested on a warrantless arrest and that even though there is attached to the Motion to Quash a warrant for arrest charging Troby Devon Benson with possession of a controlled substance, it is by all parties agreed that this warrant has no bearing on the case at bar, and nobody really knows why that warrant was even issued.       [T]he Court finds that the certificate of preliminary hearing does in fact show that there is probable cause to believe that Troby Benson did commit the crime of burglary and Benson did commit the crime of burglary and bound Troby Benson over to the next Grand Jury. That the Court finds that this certificate of preliminary hearing, even though incorrect, would not preclude the Grand Jury of Marion County from taking up the case of robbery against the Defendant, Troby Benson, and that if Troby Benson was being wrongfully held after his preliminary hearing while he awaited the action of the Grand Jury, his obvious remedy to rectify that wrong would have been the filing of a writ of habeas corpus, but that an error on the Justice Court level holding someone in custody, even though wrongfully, would not preclude the Grand Jury from taking up the proper case and if twelve or more members voted to indict him on the proper charges. That the Court finds that the Motion to Quash is not well taken and the same is hereby overruled. (Emphasis added). After having stipulated that the arrest warrant was of no effect in this case, Benson now advances before this Court the argument that the warrant vitiates his conviction. Benson's contention is incorrect, for the indictment was based on the facts presented to the grand jury, not the arrest. The trial judge's statement was clearly correct. Conn v. State, 234 Miss. 137, 105 So.2d 760, 761 (1958); Beard v. State, 369 So.2d 769, 770 (Miss. 1979); Smith v. State, 229 So.2d 551, 556 (Miss. 1969).