Court Opinion

ID: 9462883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:52:42.72546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:50.218358
License: Public Domain

WIDENER, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the result.
In this circuit, there are two stages involved in admitting a confession. First, the court has to admit it into evidence. In Johnson, we decided that the court should be satisfied by a preponderance of the evidence that the confession is voluntary before allowing the jury to consider it. The second stage is the jury consideration of the confession, and, as the majority points out, “The jury must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that it had been made by the accused uninfluenced by promise of reward, threat of injury, or diminution of his rights.”
Since the jury was not so charged, I would grant a new trial on this account.