Bates v. State

Citations

• 78 Fla. 672
• 84 So. 373

Syllabus

<p>1. Before admissions made by a party while under arrest, can be introduced in evidence/ the Court should determine the principal question of whether the admissions were free and voluntary.</p> <p>2. Whether admissions or confessions are freely and voluntarily made, is a question for the court and the duty is imposed upon it to determine this question before permitting it to go- to the jury.</p> <p>3. The question of whether an admission is freely ¡and voluntarily made, is for the court to determine and it is not a matter of the opinion of the witness. The proper method is to have the witness state the circumstances under which they were made so that the court and not the witness may determine if they were free and voluntary. ' This investigation should be made in the absence of the jury.</p> <p>4. The admissibility of a confession, where it is challenged, is a question solely for the court after hearing, in the absence of the jury, all the evidence on each side respecting the manner in which the Confession was obtained.</p> <p>5. After a confession has been admitted, the defendant is entitled to have the evidence in regard to the manner in which it w¡as obtained given anew to the jury, not that -the jury may pass upon its admissibility, but for the purpose of enabling them to judge what weight and value should be given to it as evidence; and upon his resquest the defendant is entitled to an instruction on that point.</p> <p>(3. If after the introduction of a confession, it appears by the subsequent testimony of the defendant that such confession was not freely and voluntarily made, the court should arrest the examination and withdraw the evidence of such confession from the jury.</p> <p>7. A charge that assumes a material fact to have been proven, when there is conflict in the proof as to such fact, is erroneous.</p> <p>S. A confession is an admission of guilt and n’ot an ¡admission of a fact or circumstance from which guilt may be inferred.</p>