Charge sent to the General Sessions Court

After a preliminary hearing today, a magistrate ruled the state had shown probable cause to consider further a charge of attempted murder against a Walhalla man. And Magistrate Will Derrick said he referred the case against Caleb Nathaniel Linart to the Oconee General Sessions Court after determining that the state, as represented by prosecutor Lindsey Simmons, had met the burden of showing sufficient evidence to consider the case further. Originally, Linart was charged last month with murder of Alana Carpenter, but the charge was later amended to attempted murder after test results showed Seneca resident Carpenter had died of a drug overdose and not strangulation as first had been suspected. The defendant was represented at today’s hearing by an attorney from Greenville, Lawrence Crane.