In Hawkins v. Superior Court (1978) 22 Cal.3d 584, the California Supreme Court remarked the difference in procedural rights between felony prosecutions initiated by grand jury indictment and by information (Cal. Const., art. 1, 14; Pen. Code, 737). The court held that an indicted defendant was denied the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by article I, section 7, of the California Constitution if not afforded a postindictment preliminary hearing. The court noted that defendants charged with a felony by information are entitled to an adversary preliminary hearing pursuant to Penal Code section 859b, and that such adversary hearings provide these defendants with a greater array of procedural protections than are provided those indicted by a grand jury; the decision emphasized the "unfettered discretion" of the district attorney to choose which defendants to charge by indictment or by information and framed the equal protection issue in the context of ". . . the constitutionality of permitting the prosecuting attorney to make such discriminatory classifications." ( Hawkins v. Superior Court, supra, 22 Cal.3d at p. 592.)