State v. Gray
| Decision Date | 24 November 1926 |
| Docket Number | 418. |
| Citation | 135 S.E. 535,192 N.C. 594 |
| Parties | STATE v. GRAY. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Stanly County; Schenck, Judge.
John Gray was convicted of first degree murder, and he appeals. No error.
Confession held not inadmissible because of number of officers present.
W. L Mann, of Albemarle, for appellant.
D. G Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and Frank Nash, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
There is evidence on behalf of the state tending to show that Dad Watkins, late of Stanly county, had been missing about 60 days when on the night of October 31, 1925, an old barn standing about a mile or a mile and a half north of Albemarle, was burned, and in the ruins was found the charred body of the deceased, badly mutilated. It is the contention of the state that the defendant slew the deceased in an effort to rob him, and, after cutting off his hands and feet and head, placed his torso in the old barn, and set fire to the building in an effort to destroy all evidence of the crime. The identification of the body, the corpus delicti was submitted to the jury for determination. An adverse verdict has been rendered against the prisoner.
The appeal presents but a single question, to wit, the competency or incompetency of two alleged confessions made by the prisoner on March 18 and 27, 1926, respectively. Both statements are in writing. They are signed by the prisoner. In practical effect they amount to a confession of guilt, though somewhat contradictory in several immaterial respects.
To the introduction of these statements, the accused, through his counsel, objected, on the ground that said confessions were not given voluntarily; that they were obtained from him by an officer while he was in custody and surrounded by other officers; hence, he contends, being under duress at the time said statements were made, they are not admissible as evidence against him.
The only compulsion alleged was the presence of the officers and the fact that the prisoner was in custody at the time. After a preliminary investigation, his honor held that the confessions were given voluntarily, and permitted the solicitor to offer them in evidence against the prisoner. This ruling is supported by the evidence. State v Whitener, 191 N.C. 659, 132 S.E. 603, and cases there cited. We are not aware of any decision which holds a confession, otherwise voluntary, inadmissible because of the...
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State v. Moore
... ... trial court heard evidence pro and con on the alleged ... involuntariness of the confession in question, found that it ... was made freely and voluntarily, and ruled it admissible ... This ruling is supported by the evidence set out in ... defendant's statement. State v. Gray, 192 N.C ... 594, 135 S.E. 535. Indeed, it may be doubted whether the ... defendant himself more than feebly testifies to the contrary ... as a matter of fact. His principal reliance is upon the ... presumption arising from the prior involuntary confession ... This is amply refuted by the ... ...
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State v. Newsome
... ... State v ... Bowden, 175 N.C. 794, 95 S.E. 145; State v ... Lowry, 170 N.C. 730, 87 S.E. 62; State v ... Lance, 166 N.C. 411, 81 S.E. 1092; State v ... Jones, 145 N.C. 466, 59 S.E. 353; State v ... Exum, 138 N.C. 599, 50 S.E. 283. In State v ... Gray, 192 N.C. 594, 135 S.E. 535, we said: ... "We ... are not aware of any decision which holds a confession, ... otherwise voluntary, inadmissible because of the number of ... officers present at the time it was made. Nor has the ... diligence of counsel discovered any." ... ...
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State v. Caldwell
...because of the number of officers present at the time it was made; nor has the diligence of counsel discovered any. State v. Gray, 192 N.C. 594, 135 S.E. 535." State v. Grier, 203 N.C. 586, 588, 166 S.E. 595, 597, it is written: "A confession voluntarily made by a person under arrest is com......
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State v. Gunter
... ... Whitener, 191 N.C. 659, 132 S.E. 603, ruled that the ... confessions were voluntary, and admitted them in evidence ... There was abundant evidence to support the findings. No error ... appears in these rulings. State v. Whitener, supra; State ... v. Gray, 192 N.C. 594, 135 S.E. 535 ... A free ... and voluntary confession is deserving of the highest credit, ... because it is presumed to flow from the strongest sense of ... guilt, but a confession wrung from the mind by the flattery ... of hope, or by the torture of fear, ... ...