CONFESSION. In Criminal Law.
The voluntary declaration made by a person who has committed a crime or misdemeanor, to another, of the agency or participation which he had in the same.
An admission or acknowledgment by a prisoner, when arraigned for an offence, that he committed the crime with which he is charged.
Judicial confessions are those made before a magistrate or in court in the due course of legal proceedings.
Extra-judicial confessions are those made by the party elsewhere than before a magis trate or in open court.
2. Voluntary confessions are admissible in evidence, 20 Ga. 60 ; 12 La. Ann. 805 ; 28 Ala. N. s. 9; 3 Ind. 552; 30 Miss. 593; but a confession is not admissible in evi dence where it is obtained by temporal in ducement, by threats, promise or hope of favor held out to the party in respect of his escape from the charge against him by a person in authority, 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 465; Russ. & R. Cr. Cas. 152, 492; 4 Carr. & P. 570 ; 5 id. 539 ; 6 id. 146, 353 ; 7 id. 579 ; 8 id. 140, 187 ; 4 Harr. Del. 503 ; 37 N. H. 175, 196; 5 Fla. 285 ; 10 Ind. 106; 10 Grath Va. 734; see 18 N. Y. 9; 29 Penn. St. 429 ; or where there is reason to presume that such person appeared to the party to sanction such threat or inducement, 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 410; 5 Carr. & P. 539 ; 7 id. 302; 8 id. 140, 733; 2 Crawf. & D. Cas. Ir. 347; 6 Cox, Cr. Cas. 243; 2 Carr. & K. 225 ; 1 Dev. No. C. 259; but it is admissible if such inducements proceed from a person not in authority over the pri soner, 1 Carr. & P. 97, 129; 4 id. 543; 7 id. 776; 8 id. 734; Russ. & R. 153; 1 Term, Ir. 177 ; 1 Leach, Cr. Cas. 291; 2 id. 559; 19 pick. Mass. 491 ; 1 Gray, Mass. 461; 1 Strobh. So. C. 155; 9 Rich. So. C. 428; 14 Gratt. Va. 652; 19 Vt. 116; but see 5 Jones, No. C.432; 32 Miss. 382; 2 Ohio St. 583 ; or if the in ducement be spiritual merely, 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 197; Jebb, Cr. Cas. Ir. 15 ; 16 Mass. 161; 8 Ohio St. 98; and the temporal inducement must have been held out by the person to whom the confession was made, Phillipps, Ev. 430 ; 4 Carr. & P. 223; Jebb, Cr. Cas. Ir. 15; unless collusion be suspected. 4 Carr. & P. 550.
3. A confession is admissible though elicited by questions put to a prisoner by a constable, magistrate, or other person, 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 27, 452, 465; Jebb, Cr. Cas. Ir. 15 ; 1 Crawf. & D. Cr. Cas. Ir. 115 ; 2 id. 152; 5 Carr. & P. 312; 7 id. 569, 832; 8 id.
179, 621 ; 14 Ark. 556 ; 19 id. 156; 23 Ala. N. s. 28 ; even though the question assumes the prisoner's guilt or, the confession is ob tained by trick or artifice, 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 28 ; Phillipps, Er. 427; 33 Miss. 347; see 8 Carr. & P. 622; and although it appears that the prisoner was not warned that what he said would be used against him. 8 Mod. 89; 1 Carr. & P. 261 ; 5 id. 312, 318; 6 id. 179; 7 id. 487; 9 id. 124.
4. A statement not compulsory, made by a party not at the time a prisoner under a criminal charge, is admissible in evidence against him, although it is made upon oath, 2 Mood. Cr. Cas. 45 ; 1 Carr. & K. 657 ; 2 Stark. 366; 5 Carr. & P. 530 ; 9 id. 240; 1 Mood. & R. Cr. Cas. 297; 7 Ired. No. C. 96 ; 5 Rich. So. C. 391; 2 Park. Cr. Cas. N. Y. 663; see 8 Carr. & P. 250 ; otherwise, if the answers are compulsory. 1 Den. Cr. Cas. 236 ; 4 Campb. 10; 6 Carr. & P.161, 177; 15 N. Y. 384; 3 Wisc. 823; 2 Park. Cr. Cas. N. Y. 663. A confession may be inferred from the con duct and demeanor of a prisoner when a statement is made in his presence affecting himself, 5 Carr. & P. 332; 7 id. 832; 12 Mete. Mass. 235 ; 21 Pick. Mass. 515 ; see 32 Ala. N. s. 560 ; unless such statement is made in the depo sition of a witness or examination of another prisoner before a magistrate. 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 347 ; Mood. & M. 336 ; 6 Carr. & P. 164.
5. Where a confession has been obtained, or an inducement held out, under circum stances which would render a confession in admissible, a confession subsequently made is not admissible in evidence; unless from the length of time intervening, from proper warning of the consequences, or from other circumstances, there is reason to presume that the hope or fear which influenced the first confession is dispelled, 2 Lew. Cr. Cas. 123 ; 4 Carr. & P. 225 ; 5 id. 318, 535 ; 6 id. 404; 1 Wheel. Cr. Cas. N. Y. 67 ; 5 Halst. N. J. 163 ; 3 Jones, No. C. 443 ; 5 Rich. So. C. 391 ; 24 Miss. 512 ; and the motives proved to have been offered will be presumed to con tinue, and to have produced the confession, unless the contrary is shown by clear evi dence, and the confession will be rejected. 1 Dev. No. C. 259 ; 12 Miss. 31 • 5 Cush. Mass. 605 ; 18 Conn. 166 ; 2 Leigh, Va. 701 ; 32 Ala. x. s. 560 ; 1 Sneed, Tenn. 75. And see 6 Carr. & P: 404; 5 Jones, No. C. 315 ; 12 La. Ann. 895.