Mathews v. State

Citations

• 102 Miss. 549
• 59 So. 842

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law. Confessions. Voluntary character.</p> <p>Where a defendant, a negro boy fourteen years old, was charged with stealing a diamond pin and denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the property and the owner having failed to get a confession from him by various promises, sent for the town marshal who told the boy that it would be better for him to get the pin, and that if he would tell the truth about the pin and get it “it would be all right,” and further said to the defendant, “John, tell me all about this, I don’t want to put you in trouble,” and after being whipped the defendant confessed. Such a confession was not voluntary and should have been excluded.</p>