Nicholson v. State

• Decision Date: 06 June 1873
• Citation: 38 Md. 140
• Parties: JOSHUA NICHOLSON v. THE STATE OF MARYLAND.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

38 Md. 140

JOSHUA NICHOLSON v. THE STATE OF MARYLAND.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 6, 1873

APPEAL from the Circut Court for Anne Arundel county.

The appellant and Thomas Hollihan were presented and jointly indicted by the grand jury of the city of Baltimore, at the January Term, 1873, of the Criminal Court of Baltimore, for the murder of Mrs. Mary Ann Lampley, on the second day of January, 1873. The indictment was in the usual form of an indictment for murder. The prisoners were arraigned in the said Criminal Court on the 31st of March, 1873, and severally pleaded not guilty; and on the same day, upon their suggestion and affidavit, that they could not have a fair and impartial trial in said Criminal Court, the Court ordered and directed the record and proceedings in said cause to be transmitted to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel county for trial; which was accordingly done. The case was tried before a jury duly empannelled in the said Circuit Court for Anne Arundel county, on the 7th of May, 1873, at the April Term of said Court. The prisoners were jointly tried, and on the 9th of May, 1873, the jury rendered a verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree," against each of the prisoners.

Exception.--At the trial of this cause, the State after having introduced other evidence tending to establish the guilt of the accused, called to the stand William Crone, a competent witness, and proved by him that he was Chief of the Detective Department of the Police Force of Baltimore city, and that his assistants had arrested both the prisoners on the 30th of January, 1873; that Nicholson was brought to the Middle District Station-House, and that Hollihan was taken to the station-house of the Eastern District. Witness then stated that he had a conversation with Nicholson on the night of the 30th of January, the day of his arrest, at the Middle District Station-House; that Thomas Nicholson, a brother of the prisoner, came down from his room, and told witness the prisoner wanted to see him, and witness then went to his room, where there were present besides witness and the prisoner, Thomas Nicholson, the prisoner's brother, and John English; that just after witness entered the room, the prisoner arose from his seat and said to witness, "I want to tell you all about this case."

At this stage of his examination, and before the witness was allowed to detail the statement or confession then made to him by the prisoner, his counsel interposed, and proposed to examine the witness as to whether, before the statement was made by the prisoner, any promise, or threat or inducement to confess was made to him, which would render his confession inadmissible in evidence, and the Court permitted this to be done.

The witness being then examined on this point before the Court and jury, testified, that he never had had any previous interview or conversation with the prisoner, and had never made to him any promise, or threat or inducement to confess whatever; that he had not seen the prisoner to talk with him before this time; that he did not tell his brother, Thomas Nicholson, to deliver any message from witness to the prisoner; that he went from his office to the station-house with Thomas Nicholson and John English, the latter walking with witness, and the former most of the way a little in advance; that when thus walking along, Thomas Nicholson said he was sorry about the case, and he, witness, might have then said I am sorry your brother has got into trouble; that he gave Thomas Nicholson permission to see his brother, the prisoner, and I may have said, if Joshua, the prisoner, wants to see me, I will come to see him; that he never sent for Thomas Nicholson, nor did he send English for him, nor does he know that he was sent for; and witness swears emphatically, that up to the period of this interview and before the confession then made, he had made no promises or threats to the prisoner, nor had he held out any inducements to him to make a confession. The Court was thereupon of opinion, that the statement or confession proposed to be proven was admissible, but the counsel for the prisoner asked leave to introduce other testimony as to the fact, whether any such threats, promises or inducements were made to the prisoner, before the witness should be permitted to detail the confession; and the Court thereupon, and against the objection of the State's Attorney, decided that it would permit further testimony on this subject, both on the part of the accused and on the part of the State, before the latter should be allowed to give in evidence the proposed confession.

The counsel for the prisoner then called to the stand Thomas Nicholson, a competent witness, who testified, that on the 30th of January, John English sent for him, and they went to Crone's office; that English called Crone out, and they, witness, English and Crone walked to the station-house side by side, and while so walking along, Crone said to him, witness, this is a hell of a scrape and he was sorry for it, and said he had had Joshua, the prisoner, in his private office, and he had tried to get something out of him, but could not; that Crone then told me I ought to try and get Joshua to say something, that I was the only one that could get anything out of him: that he then told me that promises had been made to him by the State's Attorney of Baltimore city, if they could get him, the prisoner, to squeal; that when they arrived at the station-house, witness was allowed to see his brother, and he afterwards called Crone up to his room; that Crone came in, drew up a chair, and sat down by the prisoner, and said to him, "for Christ's sake, if you know anything about this case, let it out before Hollihan squeals, for if you do not, Hollihan will squeal before you, and you will get the worse of it," and this was said to him by Crone, before any statement or confession was made by the prisoner.

The State then called to the stand John English, a competent witness, who testified that he was present at the interview spoken of by the other witnesses, at the station-house; that he accompanied Crone and Thomas Nicholson from Crone's office to the station-house, the three of us walking together, Crone in the middle; that while they were thus on their way to the station-house, no such conversations occurred between Crone and Thomas Nicholson, as the latter had testified to nor did Crone make any such statements to said Thomas Nicholson while thus on their way, as the said Thomas had testified to; that when they arrived at the station-house, Thomas Nicholson went up in to the prisoner's room, and Crone and witness remained down stairs; that said Thomas Nicholson afterwards came down, and said to Crone, that Joshua wanted to see him, and all three of us then went up stairs, and into the prisoner's room, and prisoner thereupon spoke first to Crone, and said to him, "I want to tell you everything about this case," and Crone then said to him, "then I want you to tell me the truth about this thing and make a clean breast of it," and the prisoner then went on to make his statement; that neither before this statement was made, nor at any other time during the interview, did Crone say to the prisoner the words testified to by Thomas Nicholson, or anything whatever to the like import.

The State then recalled Crone, who testified, that while on their way to the station-house, he did not use the words or expressions attributed to him by Thomas Nicholson in his testimony, or anything like them; that after he went into the prisoner's room at the station-house, and after the prisoner had said to him, "I want to tell you all about this case," witness said to him, "Josh, let it be the truth, and let it be of your free will and consent;" and does not think he said, "Make a clean breast of it;" and he positively swears he did not, before the statement was made by the prisoner, or at any other time, make use of, or say to him, the words or expressions testified to by the witness, Thomas Nicholson; that after the prisoner had begun his statement, Thomas Nicholson, his brother, said to him, "That's right, Josh, tell the truth."

The aforegoing being all the testimony offered on this question by either side, the Court thereupon ruled and decided, that nothing in said testimony of the witnesses Crone and English, or either of them, rendered the proposed confession inadmissible in evidence, but instructed the jury, that if they believed the words and expressions testified to by Thomas Nicholson, viz: "For Christ's sake, if you know anything about this case, let it out before Hollihan squeals, for if you do not, Hollihan will squeal first, and you will get the worse of it," were used and said to the prisoner before the confession, about to be given in evidence, was made, then the same was inadmissible, and they must not regard it as evidence before them affecting the prisoner; but on the other hand, if they believe that such words or expressions were not spoken or made to him, as testified to by Thomas Nicholson, and that nothing was said to him except what has been testified to by the witnesses, Crone and English, then said confession is admissible in evidence, and they must regard and consider it as evidence before them; and having thus clearly and distinctly instructed the jury, the Court permitted the witness, Crone, to detail to the jury the statement and confession of the prisoner, made to him at the said station-house on the said night of the 30th of January, 1873, and the confession then made was given in evidence to the jury by said witness under and subject to the aforesaid instructions.

The counsel for the prisoner, Nicholson, thereupon, and before the witness detailed to the jury said...