Opinion ID: 1650645
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficiency of evidence at preliminary hearing.

Text: Defendant was arrested with three other men, Willie Tyrone Williams, Donald Wayne Johnson and Eddie Deon Williams, on September 17, 1970, for the armed robbery of a tavern located at 3201 West Center Street in the city of Milwaukee. Preliminary hearing was held September 28, 1970, in the county court of Milwaukee county. Henry Kuszewski, the owner and operator of the tavern, identified Willie Williams and Johnson as the same two men who entered his tavern on September 17, 1970, at approximately 8 p. m. The men ordered two bottles of beer and as the witness placed the bottles on the bar, Williams took a luger-type revolver from a brown paper bag and started motioning toward the cash register. Johnson then came behind the bar and took  money out of the cash register as well as some other drawers. Williams then demanded the witness' wallet. Kuszewski testified he never saw the defendant or Eddie Williams. Milwaukee policeman Leslie Pedersen identified all four men as passengers in a brown 1964 Mustang which he, along with two other officers, observed a short distance from the tavern at approximately 8:05 p. m. An attempt was made to apprehend the vehicle after the officers received a radio dispatch that a brown Mustang was wanted in connection with a holdup at 32nd and Center. The officers began pursuit, engaging the red light and siren on the police vehicle. The Mustang was traveling at a high rate of speed, went through a stop sign, and finally came to a stop in an alley. The occupants then attempted to flee; however, the officers stopped them at gunpoint. Officer Pedersen observed Johnson getting out of the passenger door with a small automatic pistol in his hand which he dropped in the alley. Williams dropped a luger-type revolver on the rear seat floor of the vehicle. The officer also observed a brown paper bag that contained money. Eddie Deon Williams was the driver of the vehicle, and the defendant was seated in the right front passenger seat. Johnson and Willie Williams were in the rear seat. When apprehended, defendant had no weapon or money in his possession although Officer Pedersen testified he did try to escape. Upon the foregoing testimony, the court found probable cause and all four persons were bound over for trial. Defendant argues that there was no competent evidence to show a reasonable probability that he committed the crime. A preliminary hearing is a determination by a magistrate that further criminal proceedings are justified; it is not an evidentiary trial. Before a defendant may  be bound over for trial, it must appear, to a reasonable probability, that a crime has been committed and that the defendant has probably committed it. Court v. State (1971), 51 Wis. 2d 683, 188 N. W. 2d 475; sec. 970.03, Stats. It is not necessary to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State ex rel. Wojtycski v. Hanley (1945), 248 Wis. 108, 20 N. W. 2d 719. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to: . . . protect the accused from hasty, improvident, or malicious prosecution and to discover whether there is a substantial basis for bringing the prosecution and further denying the accused his right to liberty. Johns v. State (1961), 14 Wis. 2d 119, 122, 109 N. W. 2d 490; Whitty v. State (1967), 34 Wis. 2d 278, 149 N. W. 2d 557. While a preliminary hearing may require more by the way of evidence than other preliminary determinations of probable cause, see: State v. Beal (1968), 40 Wis. 2d 607, 613, 162 N. W. 2d 640; Hancock v. Hallmann (1938), 229 Wis. 127, 281 N. W. 703, these pretrial proceedings are similar in that they are all concerned with the practical and nontechnical probabilities of everyday life in determining the existence of probable cause. See Molina v. State (1972), 53 Wis. 2d 662, 684, fn. 36, 193 N. W. 2d 874. In the instant case, competent eyewitness' testimony established that the defendant was in an automobile fleeing from the scene of a crime in the company of two persons identified as the holdup men. When apprehended, he attempted to flee. He was charged with being a party to the crime. Under such circumstances the evidence was sufficient to establish a reasonable probability that defendant was involved in the crime.