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95 Nev. 593

600 P.2d 221

Sheriff, Clark County v. Badillo

Nevada Supreme Court

Decided September 24, 1979

Nevada Supreme Court · decided 1979-09-24

Applies NV 193 § 193.165 · NV 200 § 200.380

Relies on Franklin v. State · HYLAND HILLS. ETC. v. McCoy Enterprises, Inc. · Wrenn v. Sheriff, Clark County

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1979-09-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently March 2006

12 state decisions

601979198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1 OPINION

Per Curiam:

¶2 Evidence was adduced at a preliminary examination that on May 2, 1979, a robbery took place at General Auto Parts, Inc. Though the testimony of the several witnesses was in conflict, one of the witnesses identified Badillo as one of the perpetrators. At the conclusion of the preliminary examination, Badillo was held to answer to a charge of robbery (NRS 200.380) and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of that crime (NRS 193.165). Thereafter, Badillo petitioned the district court for a pretrial writ of habeas corpus contending the evidence was insufficient to establish probable cause to believe that he had committed the offense. The district court granted the writ, and from that order the Sheriff has appealed.

¶3 The pretrial writ of habeas corpus will issue when the evidence is insufficient to establish probable cause to believe that the accused committed the charged offense. See Williams v. Sheriff, 92 Nev. 543, 554 P.2d 732 (1976). A finding of probable cause may be based on slight evidence. Franklin v. State, 89 Nev. 382, 513 P.2d 1252 (1973). Here, the identification of Badillo by one of the witnesses is sufficient to establish probable cause to believe that Badillo committed the offense. The fact that this testimony is in direct conflict with that of another witness is of no import at this stage of the proceedings. The *595 magistrate could, and did, determine that the evidence supported an inference of criminal conduct by the accused, thereby leaving the ultimate question of the credibility of the witnesses to the trier of fact at trial. See Wrenn v. Sheriff, 87 Nev. 85, 482 P.2d 289 (1971).

¶4 Accordingly, the order of the district court is reversed.

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