State v. Alexander

Citations

• 109 La. 557
• 33 So. 600
• 1903 La. LEXIS 412

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW — CONFESSION—ADMISSIBILITY.</p> <p>1. Where a person in jail, charged with robbery, is visited by the chief of police, a police officer, and the jailer, and is told by the chief of police, “If you have anything to tell, you had better tell it now,” and in answer to his question as to whether another party, suspected of participation in the crime, has been apprehended, receives from that officer the reply, “No; [butj as soon as he is caught he is going to turn state’s evidence, and, if you have got anything to say, you had better say it now,” the confession which he is thus induced to make is hot voluntary, and should be excluded upon the objection of his counsel.</p> <p>2. Where, in such a case, it is shown that the accused made a statement to the effect that he was standing some distance away, and did not participate in the crime, but received from one of the participants, who was running away, some of the money, “which he took, and went home,” it is no answer to the objection to its admissibility to say that the testimony does not prove a confession.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>