Reason v. State

Citation48 So. 820,94 Miss. 290
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
Decision Date29 March 1909
PartiesBRODIE REASON v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

October 1908

FROM the circuit court of Marshall county, HON. WILLIAM A. ROANE Judge.

Reason appellant, was indicted, and tried for and convicted of the murder of his father, Henry Reason, sentenced to the penitentiary for life, and appealed to the supreme court.

The state failed to prove by any eyewitness that appellant committed the homicide; appellant himself denying that he was guilty of the crime. The conviction rested, aside from the confession hereinafter mentioned, on the testimony of his younger fourteen years old brother, Frank Reason, to the effect that appellant had made threats against his father shortly before the killing, and shortly after the fatal shot ran from the house in which the killing occurred. This witness had, however, twice previously testified altogether differently, affirming that appellant was not guilty. The state also introduced testimony of an alleged confession by appellant to the sheriff and his deputies, which appellant contended was extorted by threats.

Reversed and remanded.

D. M. Featherston, for appellant.

Appellant testified, without contradiction, that his original confession of guilt was extorted from him by threats to the effect that if he did not admit his guilt he would be hanged as soon as he reached Holly Springs. While this original confession was not admitted in evidence, the court below erroneously permitted the state over appellant's objection to show that it was reiterated when the prisoner reached Holly Springs. This was error. Whitley v. State, 78 Miss. 255, 28 So. 852.

A confession of guilt to be admissable in evidence must be free and voluntary, not extorted by fear or induced by threats or personal violence or hope held out by promise of reward. Peter v. State, 4 Smed. & M. 31; Van Buren v. State, 24 Miss. 512; Simon v. State, 37 Miss 288; Whitley v. State, 78 Miss. 255, 28 So. 852; Smith v. State, 72 Miss. 420, 18 So. 422; Ammon v. State, 80 Miss. 592, 32 So. 9; Mackmaster v. State, 82 Miss. 459, 34 So. 156; Banks v. State, 47 So. 437.

George Butler, assistant attorney-general, for appellee.

It is true that there is some testimony that the confession was extorted by threats. But the extorted confession was not offered in evidence. The confession proved on the trial was subsequently made in the jail at Holly Springs. Accordingly, the cases cited by the learned counsel for appellant are not in point. The competency of the evidence was determined by the trial court. The court heard all the facts and circumstances relating to the confession and after a full hearing decided that the sheriff's testimony in regard to the confession should be admitted. In the case of Simmons v. State, 61 Miss. 243, this court held that the jury has nothing to do with the competency of the confession. Be that as it may, the instructions to the jury covered the matter, and this court will readily see that the instructions rectly announced the law.

Argued orally by J. C. Longstreet, for appellant, and by George Butler, assistant attorney-general, for appellee.

OPINION

FLETCHER, J.

This conviction rests on the testimony of Frank Reason and the alleged...

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14 cases
  • Pullen v. State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • May 11, 1936
    ...... of the officers continued--and he still was denying--until. the marshal of Winona and his co-officer got the defendant. just under the valley hill in the darkness of the night in. the delta in a strange place, on the road from Winona to. Greenwood, and he was told the reason he was being scurried. out of Montgomery County, and then it was, as stated by the. officer, "some of his statements were voluntary on his. part.". . . If a. confession is of doubtful admissibility, it should be. rejected. . . State. v. Smith, 72 Miss. 420, 18 So. ......
  • Keeton v. State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • April 6, 1936
    ...592, 32 So. 9, 18 L. R. A. (N. S.) 768, 92 Am. St. Rep. 607; Whitley v. State, 78 Miss. 255, 28 So. 852, 53 L. R. A. 402; Reason v. State, 94 Miss. 290, 48 So. 820; McMaster v. State, 82 Miss. 459, 34 So. Jones v. State, 133 Miss. 684, 98 So. 150; Fisher v. State, 145 Miss. 116, 110 So. 361......
  • Boudreaux v. State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • June 8, 1936
    ...... voluntary confession. . . The. rule as to the second or subsequent confession, unless shown. it was free from the I influence, which made the first. confession inadmissible. . . Banks. v. State, 93 Miss. 700, 47 So. 437; Reason v. State,. 94 Miss. 290; Simmons v. State, 61 Miss. 243;. Cody v. State, 44 Miss. 332; Peter v. State, 12. Miss. 31. . . Webb M. Mize, Assistant Attorney-General, for the, state. . . It is. elemental law which needs no citation of authority that the. trial court's ......
  • Weatherford v. State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • October 24, 1932
    ...until such influence is shown to have been removed. Whitley v. State, 78 Miss. 255, 28 So. 852, 53 L.R.A. 402, note; Reason v. State, 94 Miss. 290, 48 So. 820; Mackmaster v. State, 82 Miss. 459, 34 So. 156. When a confession of a defendant is offered in evidence the court should ascertain b......
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