State v. Blake, 322.

Decision Date02 April 1930
Docket NumberNo. 322.,322.
CourtNorth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesSTATE . v. BLAKE.

Appeal from Superior Court, Durham County; Cranmer, Judge.

Nathan Blake was convicted of the murder of one Will Hall, and sentenced to death by electrocution, and he appeals, assigning errors.

New trial ordered.

Philip A. Escoffery, of Durham, for appellant.

D. G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and Frank Nash, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

STACY, C. J.

The record is in a very unsatisfactory condition, but one circumstance seems to appear with certainty, and that is, in hearing evidence on the voir dire to determine the competency or voluntariness of an alleged confession, made by the prisoner while in jail, the court declined to permit the prisoner to testify, and ruled upon the state's evidence alone that said confession was voluntary, and admitted the same in evidence. In this, there was error. State v. Fox, 197 N. C. 478, 149 S. E. 735. The prisoner, at his own request, was entitled to be heard on the preliminary inquiry looking to the admissibility of the alleged confession in evidence. State v. Whitener, 191 N. C. 659, 132 S. E. 603.

The ruling was hurtful in two ways: (1) It denied to the prisoner the benefit of his own testimony while the admissibility of the alleged confession was. in issue; and (2) thereafter he felt impelled to take the stand as a witness in his own behalf and deny its voluntariness, but for the admission of which a different course might have been pursued on the trial.

For the error, as indicated, in declining to hear the prisoner on the preliminary inquiry as to the voluntariness of the alleged confession, a new trial must be awarded; and it is so ordered.

New trial.

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3 cases
  • State v. Rogers
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • April 11, 1951
    ...Gibson, 216 N.C. 535, 5 S.E.2d 717; State v. Alston, 215 N.C. 713, 3 S.E.2d 11; State v. Smith, 213 N.C. 299, 195 S.E. 819; State v. Blake, 198 N.C. 547, 152 S.E. 632; State v. Whitener, 191 N.C. 659, 132 S.E. 603. The admissibility of a confession is to be determined by the facts appearing......
  • State v. Davis, 217
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • October 12, 1960
    ...Gibson, 216 N.C. 535, 5 S.E.2d 717; State v. Alston, 215 N.C. 713, 3 S.E.2d 11; State v. Smith, 213 N.C. 299, 195 S.E. 819; State v. Blake, 198 N.C. 547, 152 S.E. 632; State v. Whitener, 191 N.C. 659, 132 S.E. 603. The admissibility of a confession is to be determined by the facts appearing......
  • State v. Linn
    • United States
    • Oregon Supreme Court
    • October 1, 1946
    ...P. (2d) 654, based on a California statute identical to O.C.L.A. § 26-927; State v. Lanthier, 201 La. 844, 10 So. (2d) 638; State v. Blake, 198 N.C. 547, 152 S.E. 632; State v. Whitener, 191 N.C. 659, 132 S.E. 603; Lewis v. State, 123 Tex. Cr. Rep. 311, 58 S.W. (2d) In People v. Holick, 337......

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