Opinion ID: 1885630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the lower court erred in admitting the involuntary statements made by parson at the scene of the arrest.

Text: Two oral statements by Parson are involved in this assignment of error. The circumstances were that after the police had been called to the scene of the crime, they stopped vehicles going by on the road. From the driver of one of them, they learned that Parson's car, which the driver had recognized, had been seen by him earlier in the evening parked in front of the scene of the crime. Thereupon, two state troopers proceeded to Parson's home and found there his car parked with Parson in it. Parson was ordered to get out and the troopers noticed that he was bleeding profusely from one hand. At this point, Parson, who recognized one of the troopers, made the first of the oral statements as follows: Mr. Purdy, I am in a mess of trouble. After this statement, Parson was handcuffed and a tourniquet applied to his arm. In the course of this, a state police detective arrived and, noticing blood over the trunk of Parson's car, reached in the car and removed the keys from the ignition and approached the trunk as though to open it. At this point, Parson made the second of his two oral statements as follows: She is not in there. She is in a ditch. I will show you where. These two oral statements made by Parson were offered and admitted in evidence. They were the only statements made by Parson which were offered and admitted into evidence. Parson argues that since they are the only direct verbal testimony from him to link him to the crime, the effect of the statements upon the jury must be considered to have been enormous. We think this is undoubtedly correct. We think, however, that the admission into evidence of the two statements was not error. We observe that the statements were voluntarily made and not in answer to any police interrogation. Rather, we think, they were spontaneous statements by a man who was conscious of what he had done and were not induced by anything the police did or said. There was no error in their admission into evidence.