People v. Chamberlin

The appellant was arraigned before a city magistrate on a complaint charging him with assault in the third degree, in that he struck the complainant in the face with his clenched fist.. At the close of the People’s case the magistrate, without taking a new complaint, announced that the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct, to which reduction the defendant objected and excepted.

There is no merit in the appellant’s contention that the magistrate had no power to try the defendant on a charge of disorderly conduct where the facts might also justify a charge of assault in the 'third degree.…