Opinion ID: 2074034
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Instruction on Voluntariness of Confession

Text: The defendant asserts that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the voluntary nature of the confession. For a confession to be admissible, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the voluntary nature of the confession. Collins v. State, 509 N.E.2d 827. However, admissibility is to be determined by the court, not the jury. The defendant cites Grey v. State (1980), 273 Ind. 439, 404 N.E.2d 1348, as requiring an instruction that the State must prove the voluntariness of a confession beyond a reasonable doubt. We disagree. In Grey, this Court reviewed whether an instruction complied with the then existing statutory requirement that the trial judge permit the jury to hear evidence on the issue of voluntariness and that he instruct the jury thereon. Because the statute had been repealed and was not applicable to the proceedings at bar, [2] the analysis in Grey does not here apply. It was not error to fail to instruct the jury that the State must prove the voluntary nature of a confession beyond a reasonable doubt. The instructions did not mislead the jury as to the law on the voluntariness of the confession.