Tomorrow is preliminary hearing today in Oconee

Thirty cases are in the preliminary hearing hopper for tomorrow morning at the Oconee Courthouse in Walhalla.  Presiding will be Magistrate Will Derrick.  The hearings are preliminary to an Oconee General Sessions Court session.  Derrick has the authority to send the cases to General Sessions or dismiss them—depending on the quality of evidence that the prosecutors and the arresting police officers present during the hearings.  The cases run a gamut of offenses—from attempted murder to drug and financial crimes.