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42 Wash. L. Rev. 903 (1966-1967)
Recent Developments

handle is hein.journals/washlr42 and id is 921 raw text is: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FELONY INFORMATION: DUE PROCESS AND PRELIMINARY HEARING ON PROBABLE CAUSE Defendants were charged with manslaughter by an information filed directly in superior court. They made timely motion to dismiss, contending that the information was defective because not found before a grand jury, or alternatively that due process required a deter- mination before either a grand jury or a committing magistrate that probable cause existed to hold the defendants for trial. The motion was granted. On appeal, the Washington Supreme Court reversed. Held: Due process does not require persons charged with an infamous crime to be indicted by a grand jury or afforded a preliminary hearing on the issue of probable cause, State v. Kanistanaux, 68 Wash. Dec. 2d 647, 414 P.2d 784 (1966). There are four modes of commencing felony prosecution in Wash- ington: grand jury indictment,' direct information,2 coroner's inquest,3 and felony complaint4 In urban areas of the state, the standard prac- tice is to refer the decision on probable cause to a committing magis- trate, and to reserve the grand jury for cases requiring use of its inquisitorial powers.5 In rural areas, however, the direct filing proce- dure is the prevalent mode of commencing prosecutions.6 Although indictment by grand jury is constitutionally required to commence federal prosecutions for infamous crimes,7 the U.S. Supreme Court in Hurtado v. Californias held that states may prosecute such crimes by IWASH. CONST. art. I § 25; WASH. Rxv. CODE ch. 10.28 (1956) passiln; WASH. REv. CODE § 10.37.015 (1956). 'WASH. CONST. art. I, § 25; WASH. REv. CODE § 10.37.026 (1956). 'WASH. REV. CODE § 36.24.070-.080, .100 (1963). 'WASH. REV. CODE §§ 10.16.010, .070-.080 (1956); WASH. R. CRix. CTs. LTD. JURISDICTION 2.01, 2.03e(2). 'Brief of the Washington State Association of Prosecuting Attorneys as Amicus Curiae, p. 4, Kanistanaux. 'Ibid. The direct information procedure places the accused on trial without indictment or preliminary hearing to inquire into probable cause. It consists of the filing by the prosecutor with the court of a signed and verified statement charging the accused with commission of the offense in ordinary and concise language com- prehensible to a person of common understanding. WASH. REv. CODE § 10.37.050 (1956). U.S. CoNsT. amend. V. 8110 U.S. 516 (1884). The California constitution required as a prerequisite to filing a felony information that an accused be examined before a committing [903]

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