I believe Logan County Prosecuting Attorney John Bennett was "looking for" a solid case that he could take to trial and win a conviction. I give him great credit for carefully evaluating this case and deciding that it is not strong enough to try at this time. Obviously, there are things we know about this case from the public record and there are many things things that have not been publicized (e.g., statements of eyewitnesses and possibly the defendant, assuming he did not follow
this sound advice). However, based on the public record, there is more than sufficient evidence to find probable cause at the preliminary hearing that would have happened today had the charges not dismissed, to indict, and to take the case to trial. However, the information in the public record would make a trial a very close contest that the prosecutor wisely and pragmatically decided he was not ready to fight.
In West Virginia, the magistrate's role in a felony case ends after a preliminary hearing, at which point a case is transferred to the circuit court (first for grand jury proceedings and then a trial if there's an indictment). West Virginia magistrates are nonlawyer judges formerly known as justices of the peace who handle most warrants, misdemeanor cases, small civil cases, preliminary hearings in felony cases, and domestic violence protective orders issued on an emergency (usually ex parte) basis. Given the facts of the case and that this case meets the threshold probable cause standard for being bound over to the grand jury and for the grand jury to indict, this notation (which was placed on the disposition sheet indicating the official record of the dismissal of the case) is of no prejudicial effect and merely indicates that the dismissal should not be construed as somehow giving the defendant a clean bill of legal health at this point in time--a little CYA for the magistrate.
At this stage, the charges could not be dismissed with prejudice. The state reserves the right to investigate further and present evidence to the grand jury until the state believes it's ready to seek and indictment and take the case to trial. As I said above, a trial in this case would be a very risky proposition. Based on the information in the public record, if I were writing an answer to a law school criminal law exam, I would probably have to reject the claim of self-defense and convict of second degree (not premeditated) murder or voluntary manslaughter. However, in a rural county where guns are owned by just about everybody who may legally possess firearms (and quite a few who can't) and there are more than a few vehicles bearing this front license plate
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the prosecutor made both a wise and very pragmatic decision to not try the case at this time. While most of the evidence is set, there is the wild card of any future incriminating statements by the defendant. From the prosecution's perspective, sometimes it is better to hold on to a case that is missing a few pieces and hope for the defendant to verbally hang himself at some point in the future than take a gamble with your only bite at the apple with some gaps in your case. I believe there's a DA in Orange County, Florida, who probably wish he had not been so quick on the draw to try a certain, recent, high-profile murder case. Can you imagine how bad that DA will look if Casey Anthony ever confesses to the murder for which she has now been acquitted? Getting back to this case, we have as the defendant a 26-year-old man who is either (A) innocent and has (at least for now) been spared the turmoil of a murder trial or (B) guilty and who now has a secret to harbor for decades. For now, the state has chosen to wait and hope the defendant will incriminate himself somewhere down the road, at which point the state could always prosecute again (there is no statute of limitations on murder or most other felonies in West Virginia).