State v. Phelps
State v. Phelps
Opinion of the Court
The appellant was indicted and tried for murder, was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of 15 years. His counsel reserved four bills of exception during the trial. Only those reserved to the rulings of the trial judge, allowing the state to introduce in evidence the confessions of the accused, are urged on appeal or argued in the briefs filed by appellant’s counsel.
The complaint is that the confessions were not free and voluntary. In support of this, it is shown that the accused is a colored boy, about 16 years of age, below the standard of intelligence for a boy of his race and age. It does not appear that the defense was made that the accused was insane at the time of the commission of the alleged crime, nor was a plea of “present insanity” submitted to the trial court before or during the trial, nor since. In fact, counsel for the defendant do not contend that he is or was insane. They argue that his mental weakness rendered his confessions, made in the
Having ordered the jury withdrawn from the courtroom, the trial judge heard all of the testimony regarding the circumstances under which the confessions were made, and sustained the objection to three of the confessions. Therefore the first confession, which was made to a deputy sheriff when he arrested the boy, the second confession, which was made to the jailer in the presence of the deputy sheriff an hour after the arrest, and a confession made to a negro prisoner, were not admitted in evidence to the jury. The three other confessions, one to the district attorney, one to the father of the defendant, and another to a Mr. Hal Nattin, were held to he free and voluntary, notwithstanding they were made in the presence of the jailer, and they were admitted in evidence.
The verdict and sentence appealed from are affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. PHELPS
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- Syllabus
- (Syllabus Tiy the Court.) 1. Criminal Law &wkey;>525 — Confession—Admissibility — Determination. The fact that the person accused of crime is a colored boy only 16 years of age, and though not insane, is of less than normal intelligence, should be taken into consideration in determining whether his confession of the crime was free and voluntary, or was influenced by fear; but such conditions, of themselves, do not render the confession inadmissible in evidence. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. § 1198; Dec. Dig. 525.] 2. Criminal Law i&wkey;519 — Confessions—Admissibility in Evidence. If each of several confessions of the same crime is complete in itself, the first or any of them rpay be involuntary and inadmissible in evidence, and the subsequent confession or confessions voluntary and admissible in evidence. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 1163-1174; Dec. Dig. &wkey;> 519.]