Opinion ID: 2213483
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: federal authority to return fact finding to state trial courts

Text: The federal court doctrine of initially returning to the state trial court the process of fact finding concerning the voluntariness of a confession has long been recognized in the federal system. In Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964), the United States Supreme Court held that when the issue of voluntariness of a confession was brought to a federal court in a habeas proceeding from a state criminal conviction, the determination of voluntariness was to be initially made by the state trial court rather than the federal court. To do otherwise would pre-empt functions that belong to state machinery in the administration of state criminal law. Jackson, supra, 378 U.S. at 393, 84 S.Ct. at 1790, 12 L.Ed.2d at 925. ( citing Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 548, 81 S.Ct. 735, 743, 5 L.Ed.2d 760, 771 (1961)). In Boles v. Stevenson, 379 U.S. 43, 85 S.Ct. 174, 13 L.Ed.2d 109 (1964), the Court reviewed a district court's habeas order which required that the defendant either be released or retried because the state had not properly established the voluntariness of a confession which had been used against him. The Supreme Court citing Jackson, supra, modified the district court's order and held that the case be remanded to the state trial court to hold a hearing on the voluntariness of the defendant's confession in lieu of a new trial. Boles, supra, 379 U.S. at 45-46, 85 S.Ct. at 175-76. Only if the confession was found to be involuntary was a new trial or release mandated. Id. Sigler v. Parker, 396 U.S. 482, 90 S.Ct. 667, 24 L.Ed.2d 672 (1970) is a case similar to Jackson and Boles. In Sigler, the Court ruled that where a state trial court failed to make proper findings on the voluntariness of a confession, the proper remedy is to allow the State a reasonable time to make an error-free determination of the voluntariness of the confession at issue. Sigler, supra, 396 U.S. at 484, 90 S.Ct. at 669, 24 L.Ed.2d at 674. See also Lufkins v. Solem, 554 F.Supp. 988 (D.S.D.1983), aff'd, 716 F.2d 532 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1219, 104 S.Ct. 2667, 81 L.Ed.2d 372 (1984); Hizel v. Sigler, 430 F.2d 1398 (8th Cir.1970). Thus, the precedent of returning the fact finding to the state court for an initial voluntariness determination is firmly established at the federal level. We then turn to the two state jurisdictional issues raised by this court.