But Copeland found sufficient probable cause in the officer’s testimony and the photographs of the woman to allow the state to proceed with the case. He ordered the defendant to make his initial appearance in a trial division of the court on Sept. 5.

Spousal privilege

Brett Meeker, public defender for Richard Brown, asked Associate Judge Richard Copeland, shortly after the prosecutor called Brown’s wife as a witness in a domestic-assault case Wednesday, to inform her of spousal privilege not to testify against her husband. The judge declined to do that and said that even if she is a reluctant witness, the state has the right to proceed with prosecuting the defendant.