Beasley, Application of, 4546

• Decision Date: 11 February 1963
• Docket Number: No. 4546,4546
• Citation: 79 Nev. 78,378 P.2d 524
• Parties: Application of Milton Norris BEASLEY for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Milton Norris BEASLEY, Appellant, v. Ralph LAMB, as Sheriff of Clark County, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

Page 524

378 P.2d 524

79 Nev. 78

Application of Milton Norris BEASLEY for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.

Milton Norris BEASLEY, Appellant, v. Ralph LAMB, as Sheriff of Clark County, Respondent.

No. 4546.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

Feb. 11, 1963.

Drake DeLanoy, Las Vegas, for appellant.

Harvey Dickerson, Atty. Gen., Carson City, Edward G. Marshall, Dist. Atty., William S. Barker and Kaye Richey, Deputy Dist. Attys., Las Vegas, for respondent.

THOMPSON, Justice.

At 6:00 a. m. on August 11, 1961, William Greene was found dead in the front seat of a parked Pontiac car in Las Vegas. He had been shot twice in the head. Either bullet was totally disabling, thus causing the pathologist to exclude suicide. Death was estimated to have occurred between 8:30 p. m. of August 10, 1961 and 12:30 a. m. of August 11, 1961. Subsequently a criminal complaint was filed, charging the appellant Beasley and four others (Harris, Patterson, Valrie and Black) with the murder of Greene. After a preliminary hearing all except Black were held to answer in the district court. Beasley thereafter petitoned that court for a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied. He has appealed from the order of denial.

N.R.S. 171.455 requires the magistrate to order an accused held to answer if it appears from the preliminary examination 'that a public offense has been committed, and there is sufficient cause to believe the defendant guilty thereof.' In this case, sufficient proof of the corpus delicti of the crime, i. e., the fact of death and the criminal agency of another causing death, Sefton v. State, 72 Nev. 106, 295 P.2d 385; State v. Fouquette, 67 Nev. 505, 221 P.2d 404, is admitted. Hence, the sole question posed for our determination is whether the evidence received as to Beasley provides 'sufficient cause' to believe him guilty of the offense charged. In making this determination it is not our function, nor was it the function of the magistrate at the preliminary hearing, or the district court upon the habeas corpus proceeding, to pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to justify conviction. State v. Fuchs, 78 Nev. 63, 368 P.2d 869. Nor do the words 'sufficient cause,' as employed in the statute, require the state to negate all inferences which might excuse or explain the accused's conduct. Goldblatt v. Harris, 74 Nev. 74, 322 P.2d 902. If the evidence produced will support a reasonable inference that Beasley either killed Greene, or aided and abetted another who did so, N.R.S. 195.020, sufficient cause to order him to answer is shown. With these preliminary observations in mind, we turn to the evidence.

Before his death Greene had, from time to time, been employed as an informer to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In that capacity he had purchased narcotics from the defendants Harris, Patterson and Valrie. As a consequence, those defendants were indicted in the spring of 1961 for violation of the federal narcotics laws. Presumably Greene, but for his intervening death, would have been a witness in the scheduled trial or trials of Harrison, Patterson and Valrie.

During the last part of July 1961, Beasley purchased a small gun from a woman in Oakland, California. During the first few days of August 1961 he drove a white Chrysler car, in company with another woman, to Los Angeles. During the trip the woman inquired about the gun and was told that he 'would use it to get some money.' While in Los Angeles Beasley met and spoke with Harris, Patterson and Valrie. He returned to Oakland and on August 6, 1961 advised his woman companion that he was going to Los Angeles and then to Las...