Opinion ID: 1413472
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Right to Preliminary Hearing and to Compel Attendance of Witnesses.

Text: As his first point, defendant insists that (a) being charged with a felony he was entitled to a full and complete preliminary hearing, and (b) he had a right to have recalcitrant witnesses forced to appear and testify. Defendant was originally charged on December 9, 1953, in the court of O.E. Nowels, justice of the peace. On January 11, 1954, within thirty days immediately preceding the first day of a regular term of court, the prosecuting attorney filed an information in the District Court of Big Horn County. To this, the defendant filed a Motion and Plea in Abatement, charging that the information of the district court was improperly issued. The court overruled the plea in abatement and the incidental motion for preliminary hearing but quashed the warrant, as being improperly issued. On January 26, 1954, the prosecuting attorney filed a second direct information in district court against which defendant filed a Motion and Plea in Abatement in which he insisted upon a preliminary hearing. The prosecuting attorney in open court agreed and consented that defendant have a preliminary hearing, and the court thereupon entered an order sustaining defendant's said motion and plea. The resulting preliminary hearing held before O.E. Nowels, justice of the peace, on February 18, 1954, is now claimed by the defendant to have been improper, primarily because of (a) the form of Nowels' decision in finding the defendant guilty and failing to mention probable cause until prompted by the prosecuting attorney and (b) Nowels' denial of defendant's motion for a continuance and for the attachment of witnesses Harry Schneider and Euretta Brewer, who had been subpoenaed by defendant during the latter part of the hearing and had failed to appear. As authority for his right to a preliminary hearing, defendant cites §§ 10-310, 10-314, 10-315, 10-316, 10-607, W.C.S., 1945, and quotes 14 Am.Jur. 935 and 22 C.J.S. 483, 484, 485. The latter reads: The purposes of a preliminary examination may be said to be three-fold: (1) To inquire concerning the commission of crime and the connection of accused with it, in order that he may be informed of the nature and character of the crime charged against him, and, if there is probable cause for believing him guilty, that the state may take the necessary steps to bring him to trial. (2) To preserve the evidence and keep the witnesses within the control of the state. (3) To determine the amount of bail. Such an examination is not available to accused for the purpose of ascertaining in advance the evidence relied on by the prosecution.