State v. Jordan

30 P.2d 751, 26 P.2d 558, 146 Or. 504, 1933 Ore. LEXIS 46
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 30 P.2d 751 (State v. Jordan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jordan, 30 P.2d 751, 26 P.2d 558, 146 Or. 504, 1933 Ore. LEXIS 46 (Or. 1933).

Opinions

BEAN, J.

It appears that on June 3, 1932, the Southern Pacific train, No. 16, arrived in Klamath *508 Falls at 10 o’clock p. m. Its dining car steward was F. T. Sullivan. Upon arrival the dining car was cut out of the train and switched to a side-track in the railroad yards. The dining car crew, consisting of eight negroes, retired at about 9:45 p. m., just prior to its arrival in Klamath Falls, the crew sleeping on improvised berths made up in the dining car. While the dining car was in the railroad yards, at about 11 o ’clock p. m. of June 3, 1932, one of the dining car waiters, Curtis Manuel, was awakened on hearing groans and moaning coming from the berth of the steward, Sullivan, in the dining car. Manuel called to the steward to ascertain the reason for the noise, and, getting no response, got out of his berth and walked over to Sullivan’s berth, opened the curtains and saw him sitting up, both hands to his head and bleeding profusely. Sullivan was unable to speak and Manuel called the crew. The lights on the car were turned on and a brakeman who was in a chair car notified. First aid was rendered to Sullivan and obviously he was badly injured. He was taken from the train to a hospital in Klamath Falls and later removed to the Southern Pacific hospital in San Francisco, where he died October 15, 1932. An autopsy showed his death resulted from the felonious assault occurring on June 3, 1932.

It is contended by counsel for defendant that substantial error was committed by the trial court in not excluding the jury at the time the testimony in regard to the competency of the confession of defendant was being heard. The defendant made no request to have the jury excluded from hearing the testimony. The district attorney suggested that the testimony be taken outside of the hearing of the jury. Counsel for defendant requested that the defendant be permitted to con *509 tradict the testimony offered to show that the confession was voluntarily made and that the defendant be permitted to take the stand.

Notwithstanding the condition of the record, we are inclined to consider the question now raised. After hearing the testimony pro and con the court admitted the confession in evidence. It is determined to be the law that when, upon the trial of a criminal cause, a confession of a defendant is offered in evidence, it then becomes necessary for the trial court to ascertain and determine, preliminary to its admission, whether the confession is competent and was obtained from the defendant free from the influence of hope or fear, exercised by a third person over the prisoner’s mind: State v. Moran, 15 Or. 262 (14 P. 419); State v. Rogoway, 45 Or. 601 (78 P. 987, 81 P. 234, 2 Ann. Cas. 431); State v. Blodgett, 50 Or. 329 (92 P. 820); State v. Roselair, 57 Or. 8 (109 P. 865); State v. Garrison, 59 Or. 440 (117 P. 657); State v. Spanos, 66 Or. 118 (134 P. 6); State v. Morris, 83 Or. 429 (163 P. 567); State v. Howard, 102 Or. 431 (203 P. 311); State v. Green, 128 Or. 49 (273 P. 381).

The general rule is that the preliminary investigation made by the court, preliminary to the admission of a confession, should be heard out of the presence or hearing of the jury, and if it should be made to appear at any time during the progress of the trial that the confession was made under such circumstances as to render it incompetent as evidence, it should be excluded by the court. When the confession is admitted in evidence as competent and is not rejected by the court .during the trial, its weight and value as evidence are for the jury. Although the preliminary investigation into the voluntariness of the confession should properly *510 take place in the presence of the court alone, the hearing of the preliminary matter in the presence of the jury is not prejudicial where the confession is admitted in evidence, for in such a case it is for the jury to decide ultimately what weight to give to the confession: 1 E. C. L. 529, § 123.

The confession of the defendant, whether in the course of a judicial proceeding or to a private person, cannot be given in evidence against him when made under the influence of fear produced by threats, nor is it sufficient only to warrant his conviction without some other proof that the crime has been committed: § 13-932, Oregon Code 1930.

The better practice is that all doubtful questions of evidence or procedure should not be proposed or discussed in the presence of the jury. The court should exclude the jury while hearing the preliminary testimony on the question of the admissibility of evidence generally, or documentary evidence. Whether offers of proof should be made out of the presence or hearing of the jury is discretionary with the trial court. It has been held that an offer in the presence of the jury is not error in the absence of a request that the jury retire: 64 C. J. 135, § 156.

We do not commend the procedure in the present case, but fail to see how the rights of the defendant were prejudiced.

The court should determine, prior to permitting the confession to go to the jury, whether it was or was not voluntary; and in deciding the question, it is vested with a considerable measure of discretion, which should be exercised with great care, to the end that the due and proper enforcement of the law on the one hand is not impeded and that no injustice is done defendant *511 on the other. The court may, after it has admitted a confession as evidence, rule it out, if satisfied by any subsequent evidence that it was not a free and voluntary one: 16 C. J. 735, § 1513.

If the trial judge finds that a prima facie showing is made to warrant the finding that the confession was voluntary and allows it to go to the jury, then that tribunal has the right to consider all of the evidence in determining how much weight and credibility should be given to the confession. Hence, it was competent for the state to impeach the testimony of the defendant, even after the confession had been admitted, as the triers of fact were the arbiters of that question in passing upon its weight and credibility.

In discussing the question of the admissibility of a confession in the case of State v. Humphrey, 63 Or. 540 (128 P. 824), at page 553, Mr. Justice Burnett records the following language:

“The admissibility of a confession is in the first instance a mixed question of law and fact to be determined by the judge who hears the case. In the nature of things much latitude must be given to that judicial officer in the decision of such questions. His judgment on that point is not to be disturbed, unless there is apparent and manifest error.” (Citing authorities).

In this state it has been held that the matter is in the discretion of the trial court and unless abused would not be considered error: State v. Roselair, supra; State v. Spanos, supra; State v. Peare, 113 Or. 441 (233 P. 256); State v. Morris, supra.

In State v. Roselair,

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State v. Jordan
30 P.2d 751 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
30 P.2d 751, 26 P.2d 558, 146 Or. 504, 1933 Ore. LEXIS 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jordan-or-1933.