Court Opinion

ID: 9764554
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:27:06.5655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:57.869662
License: Public Domain

ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING.
BEAUCHAMP, Judge.
In his motion for rehearing appellant bases his contention upon the proposition that the evidence of the state is not sufficient to support the conviction without the use of appellant’s confessions; that the confessions were not admissible as a matter of law, having been obtained from him after a failure on the part of the officers to comply with the statutory direction to take him before a magistrate immediately upon being arrested; and that the action of the judge of the court, having gone to sleep on the bench, was more than inattentiveness on his part and amounted to an absence from the courtroom and a loss of control of the trial of the case.
The motion really and in fact brings nothing for our consideration which was not discussed in the original opinion. Normally such a motion calls for no written opinion unless we discover error, either in the statement of the facts or discussion of law, in the original opinion.
One could always write a thesis on a question of law raised before this court, but we would seldom satisfy the losing party *655in doing so. The original opinion pointedly and sufficiently discusses the question raised to the admissibility of the confessions and, while the writer would naturally have employed different language from that used by the author of the original opinion, it is to be doubted that a more satisfactory discussion would be had because the same conclusion would have been reached. We think the written confessions were admissible and that none of the cited opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the subject should be construed to warrant a contrary conclusion.
The more lengthy discussion in the motion for rehearing is a review and argument on the weight of the evidence which is always appropriate argument for the jury, and no doubt same was made to the jury with great force as it is found in the motion. We cannot, however, assume the powers of the jury to hold the evidence insufficient where there is direct testimony to the existence of a fact. The evidence would be sufficient without the admission of the confessions and the confessions themselves are sufficient to support a conviction without much of the oral testimony which was introduced. With the introduction of the confessions and proof of the corpus delicti the jury verdict will be supported, and this court would have no power to supersede the jury’s verdict with its own judgment.
The very lengthy motion prepared by earnest counsel, in great detail, picks to pieces the assertions in the opinion and in doing so adds no weight to the argument in favor of the motion. The appellant is before the court with the death penalty and we have reconsidered every item, however trivial. We admire counsel for his earnestness, for his diligence in presenting his case and his ability to search out the law on the subjects discussed, but we are unable to reach the same conclusions. It was not necessary to rewrite the original opinion.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.