State v. Miller

Citations

• 61 Wash. 125
• 111 P. 1053
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1295

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law — Evidence—Confessions—Admissibility—Duress. A confession is inadmissible as one obtained by duress, where it appears that the prosecuting attorney threatened the accused with a series of prosecutions which would culminate in cumulative sentences, unless he confessed, he was subjected to solitary confinement in a dark cell, and testified that he was subjected to severe cruelties and threatened with appalling punishments if he did not confess; and it appears that the jailors threatened many other prisoners if they did not confess, and confined them in the dark cell for refusal to do so.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Trial—Misconduct of Jury — View. There is such misconduct on the part of the jury as to require a reversal of a conviction, where it appears that the jury, on being sent to view a cell that had been occupied by the accused, inspected, on invitation, the office of a police captain who was an important factor in the prosecution, and it was alleged that such officer had assaulted the accused, and the captain conversed with the jurors on the subject of the assault, calling attention to the fact that the window gave full view from the street, and the jury was drawn into a social conversation with him.</p>