People v. Van Horn

The defendants, Van Horn and Crow, ; were charged by information with the murder of one A. D. Littlefield. They were convicted of murder in the second degree 'and sentenced to imprisonment in the state’s prison, and they appeal from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

• The transcript is quite voluminous, and appellants make a great many points upon exceptions taken by them to rulings of the court below upon the admissibility of evidence and to instructions given and refused. We do not think that any of these points are very important or show reversible error. Some of them will be noted hereafter.

The most serious point made by appellants arises upon the denial of the court to grant their motion to set aside the information, the motion being upon the ground, “that before the filing* thereof the defendants had not been legally committed by a magistrate,” as provided in subdivision 4 of section 995 of the Penal Code. The specific facts relied on by appellants are, that at the preliminary examination the committing magistrate, upon affidavit of the prosecuting officer showing the absence of material witnesses for the prosecution, postponed the hearing for a period •…