The PEOPLE v. Coleman

The defendant, Coleman, was jointly indicted with Benjamin Arnold and Fred L. Thompson for the murder of Coleman’s wife, Ollie Coleman. Arnold and Thompson pleaded guilty and Coleman was tried by a judge without a jury in the circuit court of Cook County. He was convicted and sentenced to a term of from 40 to 60 years in the penitentiary. This is a direct appeal from his original conviction.

The defendant, Coleman, contends that his constitutional right to be indicted by a grand jury (Cons. of 1870, art. II, sec. 8) was violated when the trial judge, after hearing the testimony, allowed the…