71 P. 330 | Or. | 1903
delivered the opinion.
The defendant, A. L. Belding, was informed against, tried, and convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree, alleged to have been committed in Multnomah County, Oregon, July 11, 1902, by killing one Deborah A. McCroskey, and from the judgment which followed he appeals.
It must be admitted that the act of 1899, under consideration, vests the district attorney with vast power, which, if oppressively exercised, might possibly abridge the constitutional right of one accused of a crime to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him: Const. Or. Art. I, § 11. When a defendant in a criminal action is examined before a magistrate, the state is expected to produce sufficient testimony to prove that a crime has been committed, and also to make a prima facie showing that the person accused thereof is apparently guilty: B. & C. Comp. § 1643. By this means the defendant, without offering any testimony in exculpation, is generally enabled to ascertain the nature of the indictment likely to be returned against him, and also to anticipate the extent and character of the testimony that will probably be produced in support of the charge, thus enabling him intelligently to prepare for his defense. The practice, however, of indicting persons without according them preliminary examinations (B. & C. Comp. § 1278), has long been acquiesced in by the courts of this state, but in such cases the per
No error appearing from the bill of exceptions, it follows that the judgment is affirmed. Affirmed.