Defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate the state gambling act, MCL 750.301
et seq.;
MSA 28.533
et seq.;
MCL 750.157a; MSA 28.354(1). The district court judge dismissed the complaint on the basis that the gambling act did not apply to this factual situation. The circuit court reviewed the action of the district judge and remanded the cause, deciding that the district judge erred in construing the applicable law. This Court affirmed the circuit court’s remand to the district court for further appropriate action,
Oakland County Prosecutor v 46th District Judge,
Upon remand, the district judge, acting as a preliminary examination magistrate, ordered de *399 fendants bound over for trial to the Oakland County Circuit Court. Thereafter, the defendants moved the circuit court judge to quash the information. The circuit judge granted defendants’ motion, dismissing the charges against them on the grounds that the corpus delicti of the conspiracy had not been sufficiently established, and that the preliminary examination magistrate abused his discretion in ruling to the contrary. From this determination, plaintiff appeals as of right.
When this Court reviews the action of a circuit court judge in quashing an information, it must examine the record to determine if the circuit court judge is correct in determining that the magistrate committed an abuse of discretion,
People v Karcher,
The statutory duty of the magistrate at a preliminary examination is to bind the defendant over for trial if it appears at the conclusion of the preliminary examination that a felony has been committed and there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed it. The magistrate is not required to find the guilt of the defendant established beyond a reasonable doubt, but there must be evidence on each element of the crime charged or evidence from which those elements may be inferred. MCL 766.13; MSA 28.931,
People v Doss,
Plaintiff argues in support of the preliminary examination evidence which was offered to establish the corpus delicti of the conspiracy. The cir *400 cuit judge ruled this evidence insufficient as a matter of law.
Criminal conspiracy is a mutual understanding or agreement between two or more persons, express or implied, to do or accomplish some criminal or unlawful act or to accomplish some lawful act or purpose not in itself criminal but by criminal or unlawful means.
People v O’Connor,
The element of the crime of conspiracy at issue is the agreement. There was testimony presented at the preliminary examination that the defendants had engaged in a high stakes card game on one evening and that they discussed playing again the next evening. This testimony further provided that the defendants did, in fact, play on the following evening. Based on this direct evidence of a conspiratorial agreement, we are not prepared to hold that the preliminary examination magistrate abused his discretion.
Moreover, even if this testimony is discounted, a conspiratorial agreement may be inferred from the participation of the defendants in a card game played for stakes, as gambling requires the concerted activity of the participants. See Oakland County Prosecutor v 46th District Court, supra. It is difficult to see how the defendants could gamble together without the existence of at least an implicit agreement to gamble.
In view of the foregoing, we find that the preliminary examination magistrate did not abuse his discretion in binding the defendants over on the *401 conspiracy to gamble charge. The evidence adduced at the preliminary examination was sufficient to establish the corpus delicti of this offense. The circuit court’s determination to the contrary was erroneous.
Reversed and remanded for trial.