State Ex Rel. Rowe v. Ferguson

Miller, Justice:

In this original writ of mandamus, the relators seek to compel the respondents, a circuit judge and a magistrate, to afford them a preliminary hearing. The magistrate had previously scheduled a preliminary hearing, but cancelled it when relators were indicted by a grand jury for felonious assault. The relators thus raise the question of whether, under West Virginia law, criminal defendants have a right to a post-indictment preliminary hearing. We hold that they do not.

Relators were arrested for felonious assault on October 28, 1979, pursuant to warrants issued by a Cabell…