State v. Wheeler

Moss, Chief Justice:

The office of Gettys Lumber Company, Inc., in Gaffney, South Carolina, was broken into on January 25, 1970, a safe therein opened and money in the sum of approximately $138.00 and valuable papers were taken therefrom. Shortly thereafter, Donald Wheeler, Sr., and Donald Woodrow Erwin, the appellants herein, were arrested and charged with safecracking, housebreaking and grand larceny in connection therewith.

The record shows that, pursuant to a verbal request of the appellants, a preliminary hearing was held by a magistrate of Cherokee County. Prior to such hearing, the…