Opinion ID: 1936088
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: introduction of admissions by taylor

Text: Taylor contends that it was error for the trial court to deny his motion for a directed verdict because the prosecution introduced inculpatory statements which he had made to Beatrice Young before the prosecution had proved corpus delicti. Taylor cites Burkhalter v. State, 302 So.2d 503, 504-05 (Miss. 1974), for the general rule that the prosecution should first submit evidence tending to prove the corpus delicti before introducing into evidence the confession made by an accused person. That case goes on to say, however, that the rule is not without some flexibility as to the order of proof in conjunction with confessions and independent proof of corpus delicti.  Id. The Court in Burkhalter found no error in admitting the defendant's confession prior to admitting a stipulation on cause of death. Id. at 505. The Court emphasized not the order of proof but the rule that the state must establish corpus delicti aliunde an out of court confession of the crime with which the accused is charged and must present sufficient evidence to establish that a real and not an imaginary crime has been confessed. Id. at 505, citing Brooks v. State, 178 Miss. 575, 173 So. 409 (1937). See also Miskelley v. State, 480 So.2d 1104, 1107-08 (Miss. 1985); Poole v. State, 246 Miss. 442, 150 So.2d 429 (1963). In these cases it is not the order of proof which is crucial but the rule that a confession may not be treated as sufficient to establish the corpus delicti. The corpus delicti in a capital murder case consists of (1) the death of the victim, and (2) the existence of criminal agency as the cause of death. Shell v. State, 554 So.2d 887, 901 (Miss. 1989), cert. granted and rev'd in part, 498 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 313, 112 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990), on remand, 595 So.2d 1323 (Miss. 1992). Medical evidence is not required to prove either element of corpus delicti. Miskelley, 480 So.2d at 1107; King v. State, 251 Miss. 161, 176, 168 So.2d 637, 643 (1964). The admissions of which Taylor complains here are statements which he made to Beatrice Young. The statements made to Young were inculpatory but did not constitute an admission of guilt; in fact, Young testified that Taylor denied having killed Mildred. At the time that Young's testimony was elicited, the State, through the testimony of Melissa Spires and Edith Taylor, had shown that Mildred Spires had left home under unusual circumstances, that Mildred was dead, and that the family had identified the clothing and objects found on the body as the same items which Mildred was wearing when she disappeared. There was no error in admitting Taylor's statements to Beatrice Young.