State v. Whitfield

Decision Date20 October 1891
Citation109 N.C. 876,13 S.E. 726
CourtNorth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesState v. Whitfield.

Criminal Law—Voluntary Declarations while under Arrest.

The facts that a defendant was in arrest and secured by a hand-cuff placed on one hand, and connected by a chain with the buggy in which he was riding, in company with an officer who had in his pocket the warrant under which be had been committed on a charge of larceny, do not of themsilves constitute duress, so as to exclude any material declaration made to the officer in reference to the crime; and, unless it appears that the defendant was induced to make the declaration by some advantageous offer, or by threats, or actual force, arousing hope or exciting fear in his mind, it is not error to admit the officer's testimony.

Indictment against Whitfield for larceny. There was judgment of conviction, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

This was an indictment for larceny of two oxen, tried at the fall term, 1891, of the superior court of Pitt county, before Connor, Judge. Other testimony having been offered tending to prove the guilt of defendant, the solicitor was allowed to show that, after the defendant had been arested on a justice's warrant, and committed to jail to await a trial upon the charge upon which he was then arraigned, he was taken by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum under custody, to Williamston, to testify in the superior court of Martin county. R. W. King, the sheriffs deputy, who took defendant in custody to Williamston, testified as follows: "I was conveying defendant from Greenville to Williamston under an order from Judge Connor to testify in a case from Martin. He was in custody, charged with the offense for which he is now being tried. I offered him no inducement to talk about it, nor said to him that it would be better for him to tell about it. I was riding along the road in a buggy with him. He had one hand-cuff on, and was tied to the buggy. I had the warrant upon which he had formerly been arrested in my pocket. I did not tell him that 1 had the warrant. He knew that I was going to bring him back. He said to me that he bought the steers from a man by the name of Sam Sheppard, near Great Swamp, for $20, and offered to sell them for $22. He said that his mother had given him thirty dollars to trade upon. I asked him why he did not try to get his cattle back after he got out of jail. He said that his friends advised him not to do so, and that he had learned that it might...

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