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Criminal Procedure—Filing By Information: Determination Of Probable Cause Required Before Extended Restraint On Liberty—Gerstein V. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103 (1975), Cynthia B. Whitaker

Washington Law Review

Robert Pugh was arrested in Florida without a warrant and charged by prosecutor's information. Pugh and other incarcerated arrestees charged by information without a preliminary hearing brought a class action suit in federal district court challenging the constitutionality of the charging procedure. Plaintiffs maintained that the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment required that accused persons be accorded a determination of probable cause for detention soon after their arrest. They also argued that the prosecuting attorney was not sufficiently neutral or detached to make the necessary determination. The district court accepted the plaintiffs' arguments, and the Court of Appeals …