Winston v. State
| Decision Date | 06 November 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 37667,37667 |
| Parties | WINSTON et al. v. STATE. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
W. W. Simmons, Cleveland, B.A. Green, Mound Bayou, for appellant.
J. P. Coleman, Atty. Gen., and Geo. H. Ethridge, Asst. Atty Gen., for appellee.
Appellants were convicted of the robbery of Vernon L. Mathews.
The questions raised on this appeal may be reduced, in the final analysis, to the one contention that two supposed confessions, one by each appellant, were not freely and voluntarily made, and their admission as evidence is reversible error.
We deem it unnecessary to detail the evidence pro and con on this question of fact. All the officers who were connected with the case testified the confessions were freely made; that there were no threats, violence, hope of reward or inducements made, or held out, to defendants. Appellant said they were threatened and beaten and thereby induced to make the confessions. There was a preliminary hearing before the trial judge, in the absence of the jury, on this question, and, on this conflicting evidence, he found that the confessions were freely made. This was his province. His finding is supported by ample evidence, and, therefore, we cannot reverse him on this finding of fact.
However, there is one fact bearing upon this question which is not disputed and appellants say that, as a matter of law, this fact precludes the admissibility of the confessions. That fact is defendants were arrested and placed in jail and were never given a preliminary hearing, and the statements made by them, in the nature of confessions, were made when they were in custody and had not had such hearing. Appellants were arrested on or about April 1, 1949, and placed in jail. Fry made his confession April 7th. It was taken down by a stenographer, and, before she had finished transcribing her notes, Fry was out on bond. However, the accuracy of the statements was duly proven. Winston made his statement May 4th. It was signed by him, and it is not shown when, or whether, Winston was let out on bond. They were both indicted and tried at the November, 1949, term of court. However, it is a fact that neither was given a preliminary trial, and this fact alone, they argue, renders the confessions inadmissible. We do not think the authorities so hold. Appellants cite and rely upon Watts v. State of Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 69 S.Ct. 1347, 1349, 1357, 93 L.Ed. 1801, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States June 27, 1949. We do not construe the holding in that case to support the contention of appellants. It is true the Court referred to the failure to have a preliminary hearing as one fact, among many, leading the Court, under the circumstances of that case, to adjudicate the confessions were not free and voluntary. For instance, the Court, in relating other incidents and facts bearing upon coercion of the confession, said: Further reference was made to the fact the prisoner had been without friendly or professional advice. Other circumstances and events, in addition to those herein above related and the fact of non-preliminary hearing, were set out in the opinion in that case as persuasive in bringing the Court to the conclusion that the confession was not free and voluntary. The Court did not hold the confession inadmissible merely because it was made when accused was in custody and had not had a committal hearing.
The Mississippi Court has passed upon the identical question. In Quan v. State, 185 Miss. 513, 188 So. 568, 569, this Court said: ...
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Culombe v. Connecticut
...359 Mich. 410, 416—417, 102 N.W.2d 738. Minnesota: State v. Schabert, 1946, 222 Minn. 261, 24 N.W.2d 846. Mississippi: Winston v. State, 1950, 209 Miss. 799, 48 So.2d 513, semble; Crouse v. State, 1956, 229 Miss. 15, 89 So.2d 919, semble. Missouri: State v. Eillis, 1946, 354 Mo. 998, 193 S.......
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...this question, as was done here. Mapp v. State, 148 Miss. 739, 114 So. 825; Moore v. State, 207 Miss. 140, 41 So.2d 368; Winston v. State, 209 Miss. 799, 48 So.2d 513; Quan v. State, 185 Miss. 513, 188 So. 568; Robinson v. State, 223 Miss. 70, 77 So.2d 265; Lewis v. State, 222 Miss. 140, 75......
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Stennis v. State, 45819
...knowingly and voluntarily made the oral confession and executed the written confession of having committed the crime. Winston v. State, 209 Miss. 799, 48 So.2d 513 (1950); Street v. State, 200 Miss. 226, 26 So.2d 678 (1946); and Parker v. State, 194 Miss. 895, 13 So.2d 620 (1943). We are fo......
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