State v. Simms

Murphy, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On January 13, 1971 appellee Simms was incarcerated on charges of homicide and armed robbery. At a hearing held on January 15, 1971 before the People’s Court for Prince George’s County, the date of January 21, 1971 was set for appellee’s preliminary hearing. On that date, the State requested a continuance to secure the attendance of a witness.

The continuance was granted until January 28, 1971. On that date the State requested a further postponement on the ground that one of its witnesses was ill. The postponement was again granted to February 4, 1971, apparently on representations made by the prosecutor that the Grand Jury would not meet before that date and appellee would be afforded a preliminary hearing. The Grand Jury did, however, meet on February 2, 1971 and appellant was indicted for the offenses.

On February 4 appellee was arraigned, at which time he moved to dismiss the indictment for failure to hold a preliminary hearing. A hearing was held on February 23, 1971 on the appellee’s motion to dismiss, at the conclusion of which the court indicated that it would grant the motion unless the State afforded the appellee a preliminary hearing within thirty days. The preliminary hearing not being afforded within this period, the court granted appellee’s motion to dismiss on April 5 and ordered the appellee released. The State promptly appealed.

The basic purpose of the preliminary hearing is to determine whether to hold the accused for the action of the