State v. Morgan
| Decision Date | 02 February 1925 |
| Docket Number | 27009 |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. MORGAN |
Rehearing Denied March 2, 1925
Appeal from Ninth Judicial District Court, Parish of Rapides; J. A Williams, Judge.
Ivey Morgan was convicted of the offense of carnal knowledge, and he appeals.
Conviction set aside, and case remanded.
J. W Ethridge, of Colfax, for appellant.
Percy Saint, Atty. Gen., Cleveland Dear, Dist. Atty., of Alexandria, and Percy T. Ogden, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Bernard Cocke, of New Orleans, of counsel), for the State.
From a conviction of the offense of carnal knowledge and a sentence of six months in the penitentiary, the defendant prosecutes this appeal.
He complains, in a bill of exception reserved to the overruling of a motion for a new trial, of certain prejudicial errors committed on the trial and in the proceedings had in the court below.
As one of these errors is fatal to the verdict and sentence, we shall not consider the others, which are not likely to occur in another trial.
It appears from the motion for a new trial, which is attached to the bill of exception, and from the statement of facts by the district attorney, likewise attached to the bill of exception, that the young lady, the alleged victim of the crime, was not called as a witness for the state, but was sworn as a witness for the defendant and testified that the defendant did not have sexual intercourse with her and at no time offered any insult to her, nor injury to her person.
It also appears that the defendant took the stand in his own behalf and corroborated the evidence of the young lady.
The district attorney states, as a reason for not calling the young lady as a witness, that he had discovered that she had retracted her previous statement and would give evidence in favor of the defendant.
It is admitted by the district attorney that no evidence tending to establish the crime was introduced, save and except the confessions of the accused, which confessions were wholly relied on by the state for a conviction.
The overwhelming weight of authority is to the effect that there cannot be a lawful conviction of a crime unless the corpus delicti is established; that is to say, unless it is shown that a crime has been committed by some one.
Mr. Wharton, in his work on Criminal Law (11th Ed. vol. 1, p. 449, § 357), says:
"The general rule in this country is that the corpus delicti cannot be established by the confession of the accused, unsupported by corroborative evidence, or proof aliunde, and a conviction had upon such uncorroborated evidence cannot be sustained."
In A. & E. E. of Law, vol. 6, p. 582, the rule in the United States is stated thus:
"But in this country the rule is well established that a conviction cannot be had on the extrajudicial confession of the defendant, unless corroborated by proof aliunde of the corpus delicti."
And this seems to be the established rule of jurisprudence in a majority of the states of the Union.
In Bines v. State, 118 Ga. 320, 45 S.E. 376, 68 L.R.A. 33, the court said:
"Before there can be a lawful conviction of a crime, the corpus delicti, that is, that the crime charged has been committed by someone, must be proved.
"The mere confession of the accused is not sufficient to establish the corpus delicti." "This rule," says the court, "is well established, in this country at least."
The same rule prevails in Nebraska:
"There must be other evidence that a crime has actually been committed, the confession being used to connect the accused with the crime" proved. Priest v. State, 10 Neb. 393, 6 N.W. 468; Smith v. State, 17 Neb. 358, 22 N.W. 780.
In Stringfellow v. State, 26 Miss. 157, 59 Am. Dec. 247, the court of Mississippi said:
"Where the corpus delicti is not proven by independent testimony," extrajudicial confessions of the accused "are insufficient to warrant a conviction."
To the same effect, see Winslow v. State, 76 Ala. 42.
A conviction of any of the higher crimes is not warranted upon proof of the corpus delicti by uncorroborated extrajudicial confessions of...
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State v. Willie
...222 (La.1974); State v. Brown, 236 La. 562, 108 So.2d 233 (1959); State v. Calloway, 196 La. 496, 199 So. 403 (1940); State v. Morgan, 157 La. 962, 103 So. 278 (1925). The corpus delicti must be proven by evidence which the jury may reasonably accept as establishing that fact beyond a reaso......
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State v. Martin
...place. This conclusion is supported when the evidence is measured against the standards revealed in the jurisprudence. In State v. Morgan, 103 So. 278 (La.1925), this Court found that the corpus delicti of the crime of unlawful carnal knowledge was found not to be proven where no evidence o......
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State v. Robinson
...222 (La.1974); State v. Brawn, 236 La. 562, 108 So.2d 233 (1959); State v. Calloway, 196 La. 496, 199 So. 403 (1940); State v. Morgan, 157 La. 962, 103 So. 278 (1925). The corpus delicti must be proven by evidence which the jury may reasonably accept as establishing that fact beyond a doubt......
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...proof of the corpus delicti. State v. Simmons, 443 So.2d 512 (La.1983); State v. Mullins, 353 So.2d 243 (La.1977); State v. Morgan, 157 La. 962, 103 So. 278 (1925). Once the corpus delicti has been independently established, a confession alone may be used to identify the accused as the perp......