Opinion ID: 1695145
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: did the court improperly admit the testimony of an absent witness at the appellant's preliminary hearing?

Text: Three separate hearings were conducted, a juvenile hearing, a hearing on Potts's petition for writ of habeas corpus, and a preliminary hearing. Long did not appear at the preliminary hearing and her transcribed statement which had been taken at the juvenile hearing was introduced over the appellant's objection. She did appear and testify at appellant's trial, when the jury returned a guilty verdict. The appellant asserts that the court improperly admitted transcribed testimony at the preliminary hearing. We do not agree. An accused in Alabama has a statutory right to demand a preliminary hearing after arrest and if that demand is made within 30 days of arrest it must be granted. Code 1975, § 15-11-1. When Potts demanded a preliminary hearing, the thirtyday period had run. The court, acting within its discretion, nevertheless, granted the appellant's motion for a preliminary hearing. The transcribed testimony of witness Long which had been taken at the appellant's juvenile hearing was introduced at the preliminary hearing. The record shows that the court reporter and the presiding judge at the juvenile proceeding testified as to the authenticity of Long's transcribed testimony. Further, the record indicates that a subpoena had been issued for Ms. Long to appear at the preliminary hearing and that the authorities were unable to serve her. The appellant cites Holman v. Washington, 364 F.2d 618 (5th Cir.1966), as authority for the proposition that transcribed testimony cannot be properly introduced at a preliminary hearing unless a proper predicate is laid. In Holman, the court established requirements for introduction of transcribed testimony at trial, not at preliminary proceedings. While a defendant has numerous procedural and substantive constitutional protections at trial, all these rights do not extend to preliminary hearings. A defendant in Alabama does not have an absolute right to a preliminary hearing. Duncan v. State, 369 So.2d 885 (Ala.Cr.App.1979); see also Nichols v. Estelle, 556 F.2d 1330, cert. denied 434 U.S. 1020, 98 S.Ct. 744, 54 L.Ed.2d 767 (5th Cir. 1977). The Court of Criminal Appeals did not err in holding that no reversible error occurred at the appellant's preliminary hearing. The grand jury of Covington County indicted Potts during the March term, 1981, some two months after the preliminary hearing. Once an accused has been indicted, no grounds for reversible error exist when the accused's demand for a preliminary hearing is not satisfied. Duncan v. State, 369 So.2d 885 (Ala.Cr.App. 1979). Potts's subsequent indictment, the predicate laid at the preliminary hearing regarding the transcribed testimony, the lack of a constitutional obligation to provide a defendant with a preliminary hearing, and Long's presence and testimony at the defendant's trial, are all reasons to find that the trial court did not commit reversible error by admitting the transcribed testimony at the preliminary hearing.