Commonwealth v. Sheppard

Citations

• 20 Pa. Super. 417
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 253

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Indictment— Grand jury — Preliminary hearing — District attorney.</p> <p>In the absence of some pressing and adequate necessity it is improper for the district attorney to send an indictment before the grand jury without a preliminary hearing, or the sanction of the court.</p> <p>Where the indictment is sent up by the district attorney without first obtaining the leave of the court, the discretion of the court may be invoked, and is exercisable upon a motion to quash. If the court refuses to quash, this, ordinarily, is equivalent to giving its sanction. If the court sustains the motion to quash, this is tantamount to refusing its approval of the action of the district attorney. In either case the action of the court is not revievvable on appeal, except for manifest and flagrant abuse of discretion.</p>