Court Opinion

ID: 9764897
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:43:06.758541+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:38.450820
License: Public Domain

OPINION
BROCK, Justice.
In this criminal case, which is before the Court in two separate appeals, we deal with recurring problems of interpretation and application of our preliminary hearing statutes.
After the defendant Waugh’s arrest on March 13, 1975, he was formally charged in a warrant with the offense of robbery with a deadly weapon and on March 14, 1975, was brought before the city court of Memphis for a preliminary hearing. Upon the defendant’s request to confront and examine all of the State’s witnesses against him, specifically the victim and arresting officers, the hearing was reset for March 21. On that date, defendant’s request was denied, and the only witness to testify at the hearing was the investigating police officer, Sgt. Pitts, who based his testimony on police reports only, since he had no personal knowledge of the facts. He testified that the defendant and a companion had been arrested within two to three minutes after the robbery of a “Seven-Eleven” store in Memphis at a location less than one mile from the store which had been robbed. He further stated that the police had based their stopping of the defendant’s car upon a radio dispatch description given by the robbery victim. Approximately $46.00 was taken from the store, $11.00 to $12.00 in quarters. When Waugh was stopped and searched, approximately $10.00 in quarters was found on his person. He further stated that the victim had made a positive identification of Waugh at a line-up.
It was solely upon this hearsay testimony of the investigating officer that the city court judge determined that probable cause was shown. Defendant Waugh was bound over for action of the grand jury on a plea of not guilty.
On April 2, 1975 counsel for defendant filed a motion in the criminal court of Shelby County to dismiss the bind-over order upon the ground that the defendant had not been afforded a preliminary hearing in accordance with T.C.A., § 40-1131, in that he had not been afforded confrontation with and examination of all witnesses in connection with the charge of robbery with a deadly weapon. The trial judge sustained the defendant’s motion, concluding that the defendant had not been afforded the kind of preliminary hearing to which he was lawfully entitled, and, on April 4 an order was entered dismissing the bind-over order.
Thereafter, on April 8, 1975, the grand jury of Shelby County issued an indictment against defendant Waugh charging him with robbery by means of a deadly weapon and with carrying a pistol. Pursuant to T.C.A., § 40-1131, a plea in abatement to these indictments was filed by defense counsel on April 10, which was within thirty days of his arrest, and on April 18, 1975, thirty-one days after his arrest, this plea in abatement was sustained by the same trial judge who had granted the defendant’s previous motion to dismiss the bind-over order.
The State appealed the court’s judgments in both proceedings, and insisted that the defendant could lawfully be bound over to the grand jury upon a preliminary hearing at which only hearsay testimony was introduced. Additionally, the State asserted that the criminal court was without jurisdiction to grant the defendant’s plea in abatement after more than thirty days had elapsed following his arrest, although the plea had been filed within thirty days of the arrest. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the dismissals of the bind-over order and the indictments, reinstated the indictments and remanded the case for further proceedings. We granted the defendant’s petition for certiorari.
The proper determination of the rights of the parties depends upon our construction of certain statutes, especially T.C.A., § 40-1131, which provides:
“In all criminal cases, prior to presentment and indictment, whether the charge be a misdemeanor or a felony, the accused shall be entitled to a preliminary *656hearing upon his request therefor, whether the grand jury of the county be in session or not.
“If the accused is indicted during the period of time in which his preliminary hearing is being continued, or at any time before accused has been afforded a preliminary hearing on a warrant, whether at his own request or that of the prosecutor, he may abate the indictment upon motion to the court. Provided, however, that no such motion for abatement shall be granted after the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date of the accused's arrest.”
Because “those who would trim trees in the garden of law must also undertake to dig around the roots,” 30 Va.L.Rev. at 193, a glance backward in history may assist us in reaching a proper construction of these statutes. T.C.A, § 40-1131, is a comparatively recent enactment, the first paragraph having been passed in 19711 and later amended by the addition of the second paragraph in 1974.2 The origin of an accused’s right to a preliminary hearing, however, reaches back to two statutes of sixteenth-century England which created an inquisitorial proceeding intended to prevent the indiscriminate release of apprehended criminals. T. Plucknett, A Concise History of the Common Law, 407-08 (4th ed. 1948).
In 1554 Parliament required that before a person accused of manslaughter or any felony could be released on bail, a magistrate must
“take the Examination of the said Prisoner, and information of them that bring him, of the fact and circumstances thereof, and the same, or as much thereof as shall be material to prove the Felony, shall be put in Writing. . . . ” — 1 & 2 P. & M., ch. 13, sec. IV (1554).
When a person was indicted for murder or manslaughter at a coroner’s inquest, however, the coroner was simply required to “put in Writing the effect of the evidence given to the [coroner’s] Jury before him, being material.” Id, sec. V. Professor Holdsworth was of the opinion that the remarkable difference between the character of the examination conducted by the magistrate and that held by the coroner was due to the fact that in the magistrate’s examination,
“there was an accusation definitely formulated against some specific person, which must be presented by the grand jury before the prisoner was arraigned; whereas [at the coroner’s inquest] there was simply an inquiry at large into the facts, resulting in a presentment, on which the accused could be at once arraigned, without the need for any further presentment before the grand jury.” — IV W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law 529 (1924).
See also I Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of England 218-19 (1883). Thus, Holdsworth concluded, “[t]he nature of the inquiry and the character of the subsequent proceedings naturally affected the character of the preliminary examination.” Holdsworth, supra, at 529.
The provisions of the 1554 statute relating to the preliminary examination before the magistrate applied only when the prisoner was bailed because the primary object of the statute was to settle the procedure in cases where bail was applied for. Because it became clear that some preliminary examination was as useful when the prisoner was committed as when he was bailed, a statute was enacted in 1555, 2 and 3 P. and M., ch. 10, requiring an examination by a magistrate in these cases as well. Holdsworth, supra, at 529.
Under these English statutes the magistrate acted more as a public prosecutor than as a judicial officer. The criminally accused was closely interrogated in secret, not informed of the evidence against him, nor entitled to legal counsel at the examination. The preliminary examination thus served a *657vital discovery function for the prosecution. Weinberg and Weinberg, The Congressional Invitation to Avoid the Preliminary Hearing, 67 Mich.L.Rev. 1361, 1365 (1969).
The basic English preliminary examination statutes were in effect in this country both before and after the Revolution. Kau-per, Judicial Examination of the Accused, 30 Mich.L.Rev. 1224, 1235-36 (1932). As stated by an early commentator on Tennessee law, “Our statute in relation to the commitment of criminals, passed 1715, appears to be the same in substance as 1 and 2 sections, P. and M. chap. 13, passed 1554.” J. Quarles, Criminal Code and Digest, 366 (1874). The practice of inquisition, however, did not accompany the preliminary hearing to America because of early constitutional guarantees against self-incrimination. A.L.I. Code of Criminal Procedure 271-73 (1930). See generally Pittman, The Colonial and Constitutional History of the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in America, 21 Va.L.Rev. 763 (1965).
The accused’s statutory right to a preliminary hearing in Tennessee antedates our statehood. When the Southwest Territory was organized there was, under North Carolina law, a provision that
“. . .no person within this province, shall be committed to prison for any criminal matter until examination thereof be first had before some magistrate which magistrate shall admit the party to bail, if bailable, and shall record the examination of the party and also, the full matter given in evidence, both against him and for him, with all concurring circumstances, and shall take recognizance, with good and sufficient securities, to our sovereign lord the king, for the informer to appear and prosecute as the laws of the kingdom of Great Britain and this province do direct; and likewise, for all evidences for the king to appear and give evidence against the criminal, at the next court, where the matter is cognizable, ensuing such examination; which examination and recognizances so taken, shall be returned to the office of the court wherein the matter is to be tried. . .” Laws of North Carolina, 1715, ch. 16.
In 1789 North Carolina passed a Cession Act offering the area of what is now Tennessee to the federal government. N.C. Pub. Acts of 1789, ch. 3. Ten conditions were placed on North Carolina’s offer, the eighth providing that
“. . . the laws in force and use in the state of North Carolina at the time of passing this act, shall be and continue in full force within the territory hereby ceded until the same shall be repealed, or otherwise altered by the Legislative authority of the said territory.”
The land offered by North Carolina became the Southwest Territory in 1790 upon congressional approval of the Cession Acceptance Act, Stat. 106, ch. 6; thus the laws of North Carolina were officially adopted at that time.
Finally, the first constitution of this state, adopted in 1796, incorporated into the law of Tennessee the North Carolina statute which was itself derived from the sixteenth-century English statutes requiring examination by a magistrate:
“All laws and ordinances now in force and use in this Territory, not inconsistent with this constitution shall continue to be in force and use in this State, until they shall expire, be altered, or repealed by the legislature.” Tennessee Constitution of 1796, Art. X, Sec. 2.
Thus, the provisions of early English law relating to the preliminary examination of those accused of a crime were transplanted into our law. See T.C.A., § 40-604.
The 1796 Constitution also included our Bill of Rights, however, which the delegates stipulated “shall never be violated on any pretence whatever”, Tenn.Const. of 1796, Art. X, Sec. 4, and has remained virtually unchanged to this day. The delegates were especially mindful of the rights of those accused of crime, adding important rights not found in the North Carolina constitution which the delegates apparently used as a model. Laska, A Legal and Constitutional History of Tennessee, 6 Mem.St.L.Rev. 563, 595 (1976). Thus, Art. XI, Sec. 9 of our 1796 Constitution provided:
*658“That in all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to be heard by himself and his counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and in prosecutions by indictment or presentment, a speedy public trial, by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the crime shall have been committed; and shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself.” (Emphasis added.)
These words of our first Constitution altered the nature and function of the preliminary examination from the inquisitorial proceeding of the English statutes to an impartial judicial inquiry. Thus, the preliminary hearing evolved full circle into a safeguard for the defendant, protecting him from unfounded charges.
As Justice Rutledge has pointed out: “Historically it was the preliminary inquisition which gave rise to the privilege [against self-incrimination]. It was won through centuries of struggle against abuses of magisterial as well as more formal judicial inquisition. The modern hearing is the lineal descendant of the ancient preliminary examination. But its character has changed with the evolution of the privilege and other constitutional guaranties.” Wood v. United States, 75 U.S.App.D.C. 274, 280, 128 F.2d 265, 271 (1942).
The constitutional guarantees further established the distinctly adversarial nature of the preliminary hearing; the accused was guaranteed the right to counsel, to confront witnesses against him and to produce witnesses in his defense. Tennessee Constitution of 1796, Art. XI, Sec. 9. See 1858 Code, §§ 5048, 5056, 5057. Section 5063 of the 1858 Code provided:
“Upon the whole evidence, if it appears to the magistrate that no offense has been committed, or that there is no probable cause for charging the defendant therewith, he shall be discharged.” (Emphasis added.)
An 1899 enactment,3 repealed by the Legislature in 1971,4 limited the right to a preliminary examination to those arrested without a warrant and those arrested under a warrant when the grand jury was not in session. The 1971 act, codified as T.C.A., § 40-1131, provided, however, that:
“[i]n all criminal cases, prior to presentment and indictment, whether the charge be a misdemeanor or a felony, the accused shall be entitled to a preliminary hearing upon his request therefor, whether the grand jury of the county be in session or not.” Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1971, ch. 245, § 2 (Emphasis added.)
In addition to the history hereinabove related, we are also aided in our construction of the statute by the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Coleman v. Alabama, 399 U.S. 1, 90 S.Ct. 1999, 26 L.Ed.2d 387 (1970) and of this Court in McKeldin v. State, Tenn., 516 S.W.2d 82 (1974).
In Coleman, supra, the Supreme Court recognized the importance of the preliminary hearing’s screening function, holding that Alabama’s preliminary hearing was a “critical stage” of the state’s criminal process at which the accused is entitled to the aid of counsel. “Plainly the guiding hand of counsel at the preliminary hearing is essential to protect the indigent accused against an erroneous or improper prosecution.” Id. 399 U.S. at 9, 90 S.Ct. at 2003.
We held in McKeldin, supra, that the Tennessee preliminary hearing is a critical stage of the criminal prosecution at which certain significant rights may be sacrificed and, therefore, that an indigent defendant has a right to competent counsel at that proceeding. We also recognized in McKel-din that the importance of the preliminary hearing as a discovery tool for the defense could not be ignored.
*659The primary responsibility of the magistrate at a preliminary hearing is to determine whether the accused should be bound over to the grand jury. “This examination of one accused of crime is considered as a privilege in his favor. It is offered by the law to enable him, if innocent, to clear himself of suspicion.” Alfred and Anthony v. State, 32 Tenn. (2 Swan) 581, 589 (1853). If, “upon the whole evidence," the examining magistrate finds (1) “that no offense has been committed” or (2) “that there is no probable cause for charging the defendant therewith,” he must discharge the defendant. T.C.A, § 40-1116. But, “[i]f it appear that an offense has been committed, and there is probable cause to believe the defendant guilty thereof . . .” the accused must be committed to jail or admitted to bail to await the action of the grand jury. T.C.A., § 40-1117.
In Myers v. Commonwealth, 363 Mass. 843, 298 N.E.2d 819 (1973), the Massachusetts court has pointed out that
“[tjhese two requirements are designed to establish an effective bindover standard which distinguishes between groundless or unsupported charges and meritorious prosecutions. Thus, the preliminary hearing’s primary function is to screen out at this early but critical stage of the criminal process those cases that should not go to trial thereby sparing individuals from being held for trial, and from being unjustifiably prosecuted.” Id. 298 N.E.2d at 822-23.
The preliminary hearing is not a “judicial rubber stamp for prosecutorial discretion.” See Graham and Letwin, The Preliminary Hearing in Los Angeles, 18 U.C.L.A.L.Rev. 636 (1971). The function of the preliminary hearing as the critical stage of the criminal process is realized only
“. . . when it is utilized as a check on the power of the prosecution. That check assumes significance where, as in the instant case, the prosecution attempts to establish probable cause on the basis of second-hand hearsay testimony.” Maestas v. District Court In & For the City and County of Denver, Colo., 541 P.2d 889 (1975).
We, accordingly, reaffirm that the purpose of the preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is evidence sufficient to justify the continued detention of the defendant and subjecting him to the expense, embarrassment, humiliation, and inconvenience of a trial. See Alfred and Anthony v. State, supra. In light of this purpose and the significance of the preliminary hearing under our law, we conclude that, except for documentary proof of ownership and written reports of expert witnesses, probable cause to bind over the defendant to the grand jury must be based upon legally competent evidence which would be admissible at trial. See Proposed Rules of Criminal Procedure of Tennessee, Rule 5.1(a).5 Admission of incompetent evidence, however, will not invalidate a bind-over order if the magistrate also had before him competent evidence sufficient in itself to establish probable cause. Cf. Gammon v. State, Tenn.Cr.App., 506 S.W.2d 188 (1973). But if only evidence which would be inadmissible at trial is introduced at the preliminary hearing, the hearing will fail in its function of screening out unfounded charges, Maestas v. District Court, supra, and will violate the defendant’s right to a preliminary hearing.
Our exclusion of hearsay as an adequate basis for determining probable cause at a preliminary hearing does not mean that we fail to recognize that a lesser quantum of *660proof, “probable cause,” is required to hold an accused person for trial than is required to support a conviction, “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” Our holding looks to the purpose to be served by the preliminary hearing and restricts the type of proof to that which adequately effectuates that purpose.
We hold that the purported preliminary hearing in this case was invalid and that the trial court was correct in granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss the bind-over order under which he was being held in custody at the time.
Moreover, we disagree with the conclusion of the Court of Criminal Appeals that the criminal court of Shelby County was without jurisdiction to entertain the defendant’s motion to dismiss the order under which he was being held. Although we are not aware of any statutory provision specifically dealing with the matter, the whole tenor and implication of our criminal code is to the effect that once a defendant, who has been arrested prior to indictment, has been committed to jail or admitted to bail by the magistrate following a preliminary hearing, as provided in T.C.A., § 40-1117, the criminal court for the county succeeds to the jurisdiction of the case and of the person of the defendant. See, e. g., T.C.A., §§ 40-1117, 40-1118, 40-1119, 40-1122, 40-1123, 40-1128, 40-1129 and 40-1707. Therefore, we hold that the circuit or criminal court thus acquiring jurisdiction of the case and the person of the defendant pursuant to the magistrate’s commitment has jurisdiction to consider and determine a motion to dismiss the commitment order, as was done in this case. Cf. Hale v. State, Tenn., 548 S.W.2d 878 (1977).
II
Following the entry of the order dismissing the bind-over order and freeing the defendant, the grand jury of Shelby County issued an indictment, charging the defendant with armed robbery and carrying a pistol, the same offenses which were the subject of the original proceeding. The defendant filed a plea in abatement to the indictment, grounded upon the fact that he had not been afforded a preliminary hearing as guaranteed by T.C.A., § 40-1131. Again, the trial court held for the defendant and abated the indictment. The State appealed and the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed, holding that the preliminary hearing at which only hearsay evidence was introduced was adequate. We granted cer-tiorari.
The dismissal of the bind-over order and release of the defendant from custody on April 4 terminated the criminal proceeding which began with the arrest of the defendant. The indictment issued by the grand jury on April 8 was the beginning of a new proceeding. Was the defendant entitled to a preliminary hearing following the filing of the indictment? We hold that he was not.
It is our opinion that the statute, T.C.A., § 40-1131, entitles the defendant to a preliminary hearing only in proceedings which begin with the arrest, with or without a warrant, of the defendant; when proceedings begin with a presentment or an indictment without the accused being in custody or upon bail for the offense charged, the defendant is not entitled to a “preliminary” hearing. Harris v. State, Tenn.Cr.App., 534 S.W.2d 868 (1975); McCracken v. State, Tenn.Cr.App., 529 S.W.2d 724 (1975). Nothing in the historical development of the preliminary hearing suggests a right to a post-presentment or post-indictment determination of probable cause by a magistrate, a determination already made by the grand jury. Our Constitution has lodged that ultimate authority with the grand jury. See Tennessee Constitution, Article I, Section 14. A re-determination of probable cause by a magistrate is not required. If the legislature intends that a “preliminary” hearing shall be afforded to the defendant when proceedings begin with a presentment or an indictment without the defendant being in custody or on bail for the offense charged, it will have to say so in clear and unmistakable terms. We hold that it has not said so in T.C.A., *661§ 40-1131, as it is now written. Nor is there any constitutional mandate for such a hearing. Coleman v. Alabama, supra; McKeldin v. State, supra; Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975).
Having concluded that the defendant was not entitled to a preliminary hearing in the proceeding begun by the indictment, we need not consider the effect of the curious time limitation contained in the last sentence of T.C.A., § 40-1131.
We conclude that the Court of Criminal Appeals reached the correct result, albeit for the wrong reason, in reversing the action of the trial court abating the indictment.
This cause is remanded to the criminal court of Shelby County for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
COOPER and HARBISON, JJ., concur.
FONES, J., dissenting.
HENRY, C. J., not participating.

. Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1971, ch. 245, § 2.

. Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1974, ch. 701, § 1. T.C.A., § 40-1131, was further amended in 1976, dispensing with the requirement that the accused request a preliminary hearing. Pub. Acts of 1976, ch. 760, § 1.

. Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1899, ch. 16; codified as T.C.A., § 40 — 402 (1955), repealed by Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1971, ch. 245, § 1.

. Tenn.Pub. Acts of 1971, ch. 245, § 1.

. Following preparation of this Opinion but pri- or to its release the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure proposed by this Court were approved by the General Assembly and the Governor. Rule 5.1(a), in pertinent part provides:
“The finding that an offense has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed it shall be based upon evidence which may not be inadmissible hearsay except documentary proof of ownership and written reports of expert witnesses.”
Of course, this right of the defendant may be waived by failure to interpose proper and seasonable objection to the hearsay; if admitted without objection, hearsay could constitute sufficient evidence.