State v. Layer

• Decision Date: 06 October 1921
• Parties: STATE v. LAYER.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

48 N.D. 366

184 N.W. 666

STATE

v.LAYER.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Oct. 6, 1921.

Syllabus by the Court.

The defendant was arrested and duly charged by a written information filed in the district court of McLean county, N. D., with the commission of the crime of murder in the first degree. After his arrest, and before the filing of the information, he made a written confession of guilt, admitting therein that he killed Jacob Wolff, with whose murder he was charged by the information, and further admitting that he also killed Jacob Wolff's five children and Jacob Hofer, the hired chore boy. He states that Mrs. Wolff was killed by the discharge of a certain shotgun when he was endeavoring to take the same away from Jacob Wolff. After the entry of his plea of guilty, the court made and entered a judgment of conviction, and thereafter sentenced defendant to the State Penitentionary at Bismarck, N. D., for the term of his natural life.

Thereafter defendant made a motion for a new trial, and appealed from the judgment of conviction. The basis of the motion was that the written confession was procured from him by duress, coercion, intimidation, and fear, and that his plea of guilty was likewise procured, and that neither was voluntary.

An examination of the record discloses that no duress, coercion, or intimidation was exercised in procuring the confession, nor was such used towards him to procure his plea of guilty to the crime charged in the information, and for these, and other reasons stated in the opinion, it is held that the court did not err in denying defendant's motion for a new trial.

Appeal from District Court, McLean County; W. L. Nuessle, Judge.

Henry Layer was convicted upon his plea of guilty of murder in the first degree, and from an order of the district court denying his motion to withdraw such plea, he appeals. Order and judgment affirmed.Edward P. Kelly and James Morris, both of Carrington, for appellant.

Wm. Lemke, Atty. Gen., and M. Tellefson, State's Atty., and John E. Williams, Asst. State's Atty., both of Washburn, for respondent.

GRACE, C. J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction and from an order of the district court wherein it denied the motion of the defendant to withdraw his plea of guilty, entered by him to the charge of murder in the first degree, contained in the information duly filed in the district court of McLean county. Subsequent to the time defendant entered his plea, the judgment of conviction was entered, and thereafter he was sentenced to imprisonment in the State Penitentiary at Bismarck for life.

[2] Thereafter he made a motion before the same district judge, asking that the judgment of conviction be set aside, that his plea of guilty theretofore entered by withdrawn, and in lieu thereof he be permitted to enter a plea of not guilty, and to have a trial upon the merits. The motion was heard before the court in the city of Bismarck, N. D., on November 27, A. D. 1920, and on the 28th day of January, 1921, court made an order denying in all things the motion. This order was filed in the office of the clerk of court of McLean county, N. D. From this order and the judgment, defendant appeals.

[1] A statement of the material facts is substantially as follows:

On or about the 22d day of April, A. D. 1920, at the farm of Jacob Wolff, four or five miles from the village of Turtle Lake, in the county of McLean, state of North Dakota, one Jacob Wolff, his wife, their five children, and the hired chore boy, Jacob Hofer, were murdered. The instrument used in committing the murder was a shot gun. On April 24, 1920, about noon of that day, one Jacob Kraft called at the home of Jacob Wolff, knocked at the door, and, receiving no response, opened it and found a room in disorder, with the floor covered with blood. The dead bodies of Mrs. Wolff, Jacob Hofer, and three of the Wolff children were found in the cellar in one heap, at the bottom of the steps leading thereto. About 30 feet in front of the barn there was considerable blood, and a trail of blood led thence into a shed attached to the barn, and there the dead bodies of Jacob Wolff, and two of his small children were found covered with hay. The bodies of the dead persons were left where found until Sunday, when an inquest was held. Photographs of the bodies were taken about 2 o'clock Sunday morning, and before the bodies had been disturbed. Thereafter the bodies were removed, a post mortem examination held, and they were prepared for burial.

Upon the discovery of the crimes above mentioned, O. H. Stefferud, the sheriff of McLean county, N. D., and his deputy, Emil Haas, certain detectives, and Chris Martineson, chief of police of Bismarck, began a systematic and searching investigation with the view of discovering and apprehending the person or persons who committed the crimes. They interviewed the neighbors in the vicinity of the crime, taking from them affidavits as to their whereabouts on the day of the crime, and as to any knowledge or information they possessed which might assist in the discovery of the criminals. This investigation continued until about May 11, 1920. About this time the defendant, who was a farmer living about two and three-fourths miles north and east of the Wolff farm, was taken into custody and confined in the county jail at Washburn, McLean county. About 8:30 o'clock p. m. on the 12th day of May the defendant was taken to the sheriff's office, and there was questioned by two detectives, George D. McDowell, E. F. Hezner, Chris Martineson, chief of police of the city of Bismarck, and Sheriff Stefferud, of McLean county, and Haas, his deputy, with reference to the murder. At about 11:30, the deputy sheriff and Hezner, one of the detectives, retired. Those remaining continued to question Layer, and confronted him with conflicting statements, claimed by them to have been made by him in response to their inquiries. He was there shown photographs of the dead bodies, and finally acknowledged his guilt. He related in detail the manner in which he committed the crime; in other words, he made a written confession of his guilt, of which the following is a copy:

“Washburn, North Dakota, May 13, 1920

I, Henry Layer, being first duly sworn, depose and say, that I make this statement out of my own free will, without any promise of whatsoever; that on Thursday, April 22d, I left my own house at about 11:00 o'clock a. m. and walked about one mile south, following the section line, and then walked from the north into Wolff's farmyard, arriving there at about 11:30 a. m. I then walked into the house and there found Mr. Jacob Wolff, Mrs. Wolff, the five children, and the hired hand, Jacob Hofer. I began talking to Jacob Wolff, demanding damages for the injury done to my cow by Wolff's dog. I told Wolff to come and look at the cow and see for himself how much damage the dog had done to my cow. Wolff then told me to leave his yard and go away. This conversation took place while I and Wolff were standing in the doorway leading from the storm shed into the house proper. I then told him not to get mad, and he (Wolff) got the gun, a double-barreled shotgun, out of his front room. I then tried to take this gun away from him, and in the fight between Wolff and myself for the gun one shot went off, and then another in quick succession; one of the shots killed Mrs. Wolff. I did not see her fall, but saw her lay there. I then got the gun away from Wolff and then got more shells out of the bureau drawer in the front room, where I saw Wolff take two shells at the time he (Wolff) got the gun and then I reloaded the gun and began shooting. I do not remember at whom I shot first but I believe I shot at Jacob Wolff, who by this time had run out of the house across the yard towards the cow shed, and hit him, and I saw Jacob Wolff fall. I then went out of the house where Jacob Wolff lay, and fired another shot into Wolff's body. I then went into the cow shed, saw there Wolff's two girls, and shot them where they stood, in the northwest corner of the shed. I then returned to the house and there shot and killed the rest of Wolff's family. I then returned to the yard, carrying Wolff's coat, dragged Wolff's body into the shed, first covered the bodies of the two girls with hay, which I took out of the manger, threw Wolff's body on top of the pile, and the coat over Wolff's body, and then also covered his (Wolff's) body with hay; then returned to the house, opened the trap door leading from the kitchen into the basement, and threw the bodies of the dead laying about the kitchen, one after another into the basement, then put down the trap door. The reason I did not kill the baby was, I believe, because I did not go into the room in which the baby lay. I then pulled loose the telephone wires from the instrument. I then left the Wolff house, carrying the gun, closing the doors behind me as I walked out.

Before leaving the house, I picked up all the empty shells, carrying them with me also. I then broke the gun, carrying the same, walked south through Wolff's yard towards the slough which I knew was there. When I got to the slough I threw the broken gun and shells I had in my pocket into the slough, and then turned east on the north side of Brekken Latke until I came to the draw leading north, and following this draw to the hills, and then crossed the hill and cut over towards the road north of Wolff's farm, and then followed this road to my house, a distance of about two miles. I don't know what time it was when I got home, but I believe it was about 2:30 o'clock p. m. I will also add that, after I finished the shooting in the cow shed, I threw about three or four empty shells from the cow shed into the hay loft, through an opened door. This is the whole truth. [Signed] Henry Layer.

Witness: George D. McDowell.

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 13th day of May, 1920.”

After having made and signed the above...