Opinion ID: 2612495
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: brief history of preliminary examinations and preliminary hearings in idaho

Text: The Press-Enterprise II case presented the considerations of experience and logic in determining preliminary hearings, as held in California, were open. Its statements recognized history and experience shape the functioning of government process. ([478 U.S. at p. 10, 106 S.Ct. at] p. 2741). So, let us look to the Idaho history and experience on this subject. On March 3, 1863, the Territory of Idaho was created by an act of congress. (Organic Act of the Territory of Idaho). This Act provided the courts, officers and procedures for the establishment of our government, but it did not provide any laws for the territory, either by adopting the laws of another state or territory, or otherwise.  The Territory of Idaho did not have any criminal laws, and their need soon became imperative. In the Fall of 1863, a Lewiston packer by the name of Lloyd Magruder was returning from a trip to Virginia City, with an estimated 2,000 ounces of gold proceeds derived from his sale of the merchandise he packed into the Gold Fields. Unfortunately he and his four employees were murdered along the trail in central Idaho by four men who had joined Magruder's pack train.  The four murderers then departed overland to Lewiston and Wallula, and then by ship to The Dalles, and on to San Francisco. During their travels, a Lewiston hotel keeper and friend of Magruder, by the name of Hill Beachy, began his private pursuit to bring the murderers to justice. He was not a law officer, but he talked the Territorial Governor into clothing him with authority to find and return the murderers. And he did so in San Francisco. Late in 1863, they were returned to Idaho Territorial Capital to face trial. All of Beachy's trek and the return of the four was done at Beachy's sole expense. The details of Hill Beachy's dedicated pursuit can not be set out here, but they present one of the most magnificent stories in Idaho history.