Opinion ID: 1674080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Free and Voluntary Character of the Confessions

Text: The free and voluntary character of the inculpatory admissions, reenactments and confessions, all of which are governed by the same rules (State v. Domino, 234 La. 950, 102 So.2d 227 (1958)), present questions for the trial judge; and his ruling will not be disturbed on appeal unless clearly erroneous. State v. Bueche, 243 La. 160, 167, 142 So.2d 381 (1962). All of the officers, who dealt with these accused from the time of their arrest until the last confession was dictated, testified the accused were not threatened or coerced in any way, nor were they offered inducements or promised rewards. Assistant Coroner Medina examined them and found no evidence of physical mistreatment. Only the uncorroborated testimony of the accused parties, which the trial judge found to be unworthy of belief, stands to support their position. Moreover, their versions were contradictory. Some of the inculpatory admissions were made by Cleveland Johnson, Morris Johnson and Irving Breaux to one Jerome Stripling who had no connection with the crime or law enforcement. These statements were made before the arrests, at the Monticello Street house and outside the presence of the officers. They were in no manner elicited by force, threats or promises. Later admissions, reenactments and confessions merely expanded on the particulars of the participation by defendants in the robbery-killing initially established by these spontaneous, guarded admissions in the presence of Jerome Stripling. We find, therefore, that the reenactments, admissions and confessions were not induced by force and that they were free and voluntary.