Territory of Montana v. Underwood

Citations

• 8 Mont. 131

Syllabus

<p>Pleading, Ckehnal — Indictment—False pretenses — Confessions—Evidence.— The defendant had been convicted of the crime of obtaining money under false pretenses from a corporation. The indictment for the offense (the substance of which appears in the opinion of this court) was objected to as insufficient. The chief evidence upon which the defendant was convicted was his own confession, which was made under the following circumstances: The officer who had the prisoner under arrest told him that he had better confess the crime to the superintendent of the corporation, and give evidence against two other persons implicated, and that he thought the superintendent, if he did, would withdraw the charge, “or ease it as light as he possibly could.” Eeld, that the indictment sufficiently charged the offense. Eeld, that the promises made to the defendant were certainly inducements to the confession, and vitiated the same, and that the confession was erroneously admitted in evidence.</p>