State v. Hayes
| Citation | 187 P. 675,106 Kan. 253 |
| Decision Date | 07 February 1920 |
| Docket Number | 22,306 |
| Parties | THE STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. BLANCHE HAYES, Appellant |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Kansas |
Decided January, 1920.
Appeal from Finney district court; GEORGE J. DOWNER, judge.
Judgment affirmed.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.
1. HOMICIDE--Confession of Accused--Admissibility and Weight as Evidence. Whether a confession of one accused of crime is voluntary and admissible in evidence is a question to be determined by the court in the first instance, and if held to be voluntary and admissible, the weight and credibility to be attached to it are questions for the determination of the jury.
2. SAME--A conflict in the evidence as to the voluntary character of the confession is to be settled like any other disputed question of fact.
3. SAME--That it was made while the defendant was in custody and in answer to questions propounded are not sufficient grounds for its rejection.
4. SAME--The evidence relating to the confession examined, and it is held to be sufficient to show that it was not induced or made under promises, threats or fear.
Walter L. Bullock, of Dodge City, for the appellant.
Richard J. Hopkins, attorney-general, Edgar Foster, assistant attorney-general, and W. C. Pearce, county attorney, for the appellee.
Blanche Hayes was prosecuted for feloniously shooting and killing her husband and was found and adjudged to be guilty of murder in the first degree.
The testimony produced in evidence included a written confession of the defendant giving the details of the homicide, and the only questions presented on this appeal relate to the admission of this confession. The objection to the confession, which had been reduced to writing, signed and sworn to before the clerk of the district court, was that it was involuntary. She testified that she was pressed by the officers and F. J. Evans, who reduced her statements to writing, to enter a plea of guilty, and it was suggested that if she would confess and enter a plea of guilty, the penalty inflicted would be reduced to that for murder in the second degree. On the other hand, Evans testified that the defendant had said that she desired to make a statement in reference to her husband's death. First, she talked to him about her children and the family property, and then proceeded to relate the circumstances of the tragedy and the part she had taken in it. At the conclusion of her story Evans asked her if she was willing to make and sign a written statement of the facts she had related, and to this she consented. Evans then sat down at a typewriter and the answers she gave in response to his questions were written down and at the end of each statement or paragraph it was read to her and her assent to its correctness given. At the end of the writing the complete statement was read over to her, and afterwards she took it and read it throughout in the presence of the clerk of the district court, who had been called in to witness the signature and administer the oath. The clerk testified that she read, or appeared to read, it over at length and then placed her signature to the writing and swore to the truth of the statements contained in it. Her testimony that inducements were held out to her by Evans that the penalty would be reduced, before the confession was made, are directly denied by him. He did testify that after the statements had been made and the confession signed and sworn to, he did suggest to the county attorney that if he were acting in the capacity of county attorney he would accept a plea of guilty to...
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Barnes v. State
...supra, State v. Milow, supra, and subsequent federal decisions. Under State v. Seward, 163 Kan. 136, 181 P.2d 478, and State v. Hayes, 106 Kan. 253, 187 P. 675, as construed in State v. Milow, supra, it was trial error under existing Kansas law to admit the appellant's confession upon the l......
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State v. Robinson, 40742
...duty to decide for itself in the first instance whether the confession or admission of guilt was voluntarily made. State v. Hayes, 106 Kan. 253, 187 P. 675. Once the court had satisfied itself of its voluntary character, the evidence of the confession and the circumstances under which it wa......
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State v. Zakoura
... ... [68 P.2d 19.] ... rules of evidence touching its admissibility were breached in ... the use made of it by the prosecution. State v ... Finch, 71 Kan. 793, 81 P. 494; State v ... Campbell, 73 Kan. 688, 85 P. 784, 9 L.R.A.(N.S.) 533, 9 ... Ann.Cas. 1203; State v. Hayes, 106 Kan. 253, 187 P ... 675; State v. Pollman, 109 Kan. 791, 201 P. 1101; ... State v. Dilgar, 111 Kan. 794, 208 P. 620; State ... v. Backstrom, 117 Kan. 111, 230 P. 306; State v ... Demain, 127 Kan. 716, 275 P. 139; State v ... Ralston, 131 Kan. 138, 139, 289 P. 409; State v ... ...
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State v. Jenkins, 42092
...have been given the jury under proper instructions.' (Emphasis supplied.) (p. 144, 181 P.2d p. 484.) In Seward the case of State v. Hayes, 106 Kan. 253, 187 P. 675, was cited as authority for the manner in which a trial court should deal with a proffered confession. In the Hayes opinion we ......