Commonwealth v. Wilson

Citations

• 186 Pa. 1
• 40 A. 283
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 954

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Conspiracy—Evidence.</p> <p>On the trial o£ an indictment for murder where the commonwealth offered to show that the prisoner conspired with other persons to rob the deceased some months before the murder occurred, but the evidence in support of the offer shows only that the prisoner probably overheard a conversation among the other persons without assenting thereto or taking any part therein, the evidence should be rejected.</p> <p>It is substantial error for a judge in charging a jury on the trial of an indictment for murder to give the commonwealth the full benefit of an offer of evidence, rather than the fair effect of what was actually proved under the offer.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder —■ Confessions — Admissions — Evidence — Detectives.</p> <p>A confession voluntarily made is entitled ordinarily to great weight. If it is forced from the mind by the flattery of hope or the torture of fear induced by representations made to the accused, its value is lost, and it should be excluded altogether. If it is induced by what may be called collateral inducements it occupies a kind of intermediate position. Such inducements are to be considered as affecting, not the admissibility of the statements made by the prisoner against himself, but their credibility. They should go to the jury with the inducements that led to them, in order that the jury may see how they came to be made, and the motives that operated on the prisoner’s mind when they were made. The jury can then judge of their value and determine the weight to which they are entitled.</p> <p>, On the trial of an indictment for murder it appeared that professional detectives, having fixed their suspicions on the prisoner, approached him and led him to believe that they were the members of a baud of outlaws engaged in the commission of great crimes, and that he could secure admission to the band if his record as a criminal was such as to give assurance of his courage and hardihood. Under thi