Word: hearsay
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...hearings easy on the patient. Like similar laws in a dozen other states, Wyoming's is based on a federally sponsored model code. To keep things informal, the code ironically says that a commitment hearing "shall not be bound by the rules of evidence"-the rules that bar hearsay or irrelevant testimony in any ordinary law court...
...example, a suddenly famous U.S. commissioner has turned out to be a middle-aged spinster totally devoid of legal training, but with the power to release 19 men accused of complicity in the murder of three civil rights workers, on the ground that one accused's confession was "hearsay" (TIME...
...continuances until the case is better prepared. But they have no power to determine guilt or innocence. According to the Justice Department, Miss Carter was clearly out of line when, on the whispered advice of a local district judge's law clerk, she invoked the trial standard of hearsay evidence. But except in big cities, where most commissioners are seasoned lawyers, such ignorance is probably widespread. According to a recent study, the commissioners of one North Carolina federal district have meted out fines, put defendants on probation and even tried cases for offenses over which they had no jurisdiction...
...sooner had Rask spoken than defense attorneys leaped up all around and objected that the agent's statement was only "hearsay." Miss Carter, who, like many U.S. commissioners, has no formal legal training, furrowed her brow, asked a question, then said: "1 will have to sustain the objection of the defendant. I don't think it would be admissible...
Dropped Charges. Owen was stunned. He argued that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled hearsay evidence of this kind to be permissible in a preliminary hearing. "The issue," explained Owen patiently, "is not whether there should be an indictment. The issue before the commissioner is whether or not there is a probability that a crime has been committed and that these people committed it." Miss Carter held firm...