James L. Carey v. State Idaho

A preliminary hearing in the present action was held on February 26, 1966, before the probate Judge of Washington County, Idaho, to consider a charge of murder in the first degree alleged in a complaint accusing appellant, James L. Carey, of willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and deliberately with premeditation and malice aforethought and the intent to kill and murder and of so killing and murdering on December 25, 1965, Jim Alexander, a deputy sheriff of Washington County, with a .22 caliber pistol. Finding a public offense had been committed and sufficient cause to believe the defendant guilty thereof, the probate Judge ordered appellant to be held to answer such charge in the district court. Appellant, arguing that no evidence consistent with such a finding had been introduced at the preliminary hearing, petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ issued, but after a hearing on May 2, 1966, the district court found sufficient evidence in support of the findings of the committing magistrate, and thereupon entered an order quashing the writ. This is an appeal from that order. The transcribed testimony of the preliminary examination establishes the following facts.