This was an indictment found by the grand jury at the June term, 1856, of the circuit court of De Soto county, charging the prisoner with the murder of a slave named Aaron, upon which the рrisoner was convicted and sentenced at that term of the court.
It is first assigned as error, that the court below erred in permitting certain statements or cоnfessions of the prisoner to be given in evidence before the jury. One Mallory being introduced as a witness on the part of the state, testified that after the killing оf the slave Aaron, and after the arrest of the prisoner, he, witness, and one Williams, went to the prisoner, and attempted to draw him into conversation in regаrd to the killing of Aaron ; that the prisoner refusing to answer their questions, they told him that if he did not talk they would kill him ; the witness having a pistol then cocked in his hand, with which he threatenеd to shoot the prisoner; and the other a stick, with which he threatened to strike, and did strike the prisoner one blow. Tinder the influence of these threats, and violеnce thus inflicted, the prisoner proceeded to state the time and place, when and where he lost his knife, describing it at the same time. The court admittеd this evidence to go to the jury, upon the statement of the district attorney, that he expected to show, by other testimony, that, upon search being made, a knife corresponding with that described was found at or near the spot indicated by the prisoner. It is insisted by counsel, that the knife found upon this search does not сorrespond with that described by the prisoner, and that the court therefore erred in admitting the testimony. Counsel is, doubtless, right in his construction or view of the testimony, as well as the rule of law, that the place of finding, and knife found, must both agree with the description given by the accused, and, if a discrepancy appeared as to either or both, the court should have excluded the testimony. We prefer, however, not to rest our decision on this point, upon this
If there is a principle which may be regarded as settled, in the criminal jurisprudence of this country, it is, that the accused has the right under any and all circumstances, tо maintain his silence in regard to the commission of the crime alleged against him, and the rule which protects him against a full confession of guilt, if it appearеd that the confession had been extorted by violence, also protects him against testimony which could only be dicover-ed, or made available through the instrumentality of such confession^for otherwise the rule could always be successfully evaded. The rule which excludes the whole confession must necessarily exclude all its parts. That which protects a man against the principal thing, must, of course, protect him against its incidents. The rule which secures a man against lawless violence, must, of necessity, to be efficacious, secure him against the consequences of such violence. It is no answer to say that the сonfession was true; the question, and the only question which can be considered is, whether the confession was voluntary, extorted by threats or violence, or induced by the hope of reward, or immunity from punishment. It was not only the right of the party accused, to preserve his entire silence in regard to the tilling, but to resist force by force, to compel him to act otherwise, if it had been in his power to employ such force. So far from the means employed to procurе the confession being sanctioned by law, it is not even within the power of any branch of the government, as at present organized, to give to such means any legal validity whatever. He could not be compelled by any of the government authorities to give evidence against himself, and an express statute, authorizing such a course of proceeding, would be simply a nullity under the constitution. It will certainly require no argument to show that there can exist in this state no rule of the cоmmon law, in regard to a particular subject, when an act of the legislature on the same subject would be nugatory. To state the proposition is to deсide it. Let us then apply the principle to the case at the bar. Can it be contended for a moment, that a confession.extorted by a threat of violence, extending to even
We are therefore of opinion, that the court below erred in admitting the testimony.
Judgment reversed and venire de novo awarded.
Notes
Before any confession can be received in evidence in a criminal case, it must be shown that it was voluntary. Wharton Am. Cr. Law, 219; Archbold Cr. Pr. & Pl., 126, 127; 2 Russell on Crimes, 825; 1 Greenl. Ev., 219; 1 Phill. Ev., 401; 2 East P. C., 659; Rex v. Tyler, 1 C. & P., 129; Rex v. Enoch, 5 C. & P., 539; Rex v. Court, 7 C. & P., 486; People v. Ward, 15 Wend., Roscoe Cr. Ev., 37 et seq. If any inducement by promise of favor or by threat be held out to the рrisoner—as by telling him “hehad better tell all he knew” (Rex v. Kingston, 4 C. & P., 387; Rex v. Gardner, 18 Law J.,
Where a previous confession is obtained by improper means, аny subsequent confession given on its basis is inadmissible. Roscoe Cr. Ev., 45, 46; Moore v. Com.,
But the presumption of a continuing influence mаy be repelled; and then a subsequent confession becomes admissible. Rex v. Sexton,