Section 6.3 Legal Purpose of Hearing

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

C. (§6.3) Legal Purpose of Hearing

The sole legal purpose of a preliminary hearing is the probable cause determination. If from the evidence presented it appears to the judge that there is “probable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and that the defendant has committed it, the judge shall order the defendant to appear” in the court having jurisdiction over the offense; otherwise, the judge shall discharge the defendant. Rule 22.09(b); State v. Woods, 723 S.W.2d 488 (Mo. App. S.D. 1986); Nero v. State, 579 S.W.2d 638 (Mo. App. E.D. 1979). There is no general constitutional right to a preliminary hearing. Lem Woon v. Oregon, 229 U.S. 586 (1913) (a preliminary hearing or examination did not exist under the common law).

When originally proposed, what is now Rule 22.09(b) provided for the contingency (when there was a finding of probable cause) that the felony complained of had been committed. Before the Rule became effective, however, the present language requiring only a finding that “a felony” had been committed was substituted. See State ex rel. Thomas v. Crouch, 603 S.W.2d 532 (Mo. banc 1980); State v. Hadley, 736 S.W.2d 580 (Mo. App. S.D. 1987).

Missouri appellate courts have reiterated the purpose of a preliminary hearing, which is fully set out in State v. Clark, 546 S.W.2d 455 (Mo. App. W.D. 1976). In State v. Menteer, 845 S.W.2d 581 (Mo. App. E.D. 1992), the Eastern District Court of Appeals basically repeated what had earlier been stated in Clark, State v. Hester, 331 S.W.2d 535 (Mo. 1960), Nero, 579 S.W.2d 638, and State v. Turner, 353 S.W.2d 602 (Mo. 1962):

[A] preliminary examination is in no sense a trial and does not finally adjudicate the guilt or innocence of an accused. It is simply a means to prevent abuse of power by the prosecution, while at the same time to permit arrest and detention of an accused by means of a limited inquiry into whether there is probable cause that a felony was committed and that the accused was the offender.

Menteer, 845 S.W.2d at 583.

The associate circuit judge is the sole judge as to the sufficiency of the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, and the judge’s decision is not reviewable on the merits. State v. Gardner, 600 S.W.2d 614 (Mo. App. S.D. 1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1020 (1980); State v. Stufflebean, 604 S.W.2d 737 (Mo. App. W.D. 1980); Hester, 331 S.W.2d 535. In the absence of fraud or arbitrary conduct, there will be no relief granted to the defendant bound over for trial. If...