Court Opinion

ID: 9752958
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:47:20.271418+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:26.479404
License: Public Domain

Bruñe, C. J.,
filed the following dissenting opinion.
In this case I think that the cross-examination of the defendant with regard to his religious tenets went too far. In the first place, it was not really cross-examination, though the objectionable questions were introduced by a question at least suggesting that the defendant had testified on direct examination with regard to his faith. The fact was that the statement that he was a Moslem had come in through the testimony of a police officer, who first stated that the defendant declined to eat a pork sandwich because of his religion and then in response to a further question stated what the defendant had told him was his religion. The defendant himself said nothing about it on direct examination. In the next place, and this is far more important, because of the publicity which had been given to the alleged tenets of a particular Moslem or Muslim sect, the questioning seems to me to have been almost surely prejudicial, even though the defendant denied holding the widely publicized tenets. It is true that no objection was made to this questioning, but it is also true that no admonition to offset its effect was given, and I believe that the matter is one of which this Court can and should take notice, and that be*176cause of it the judgment should be reversed and a new trial awarded.
I may add that if a new trial were awarded, more full testimony with regard to whether or not the defendant’s confession was properly obtained could probably be presented, but the issue was submitted to the jury under advisory instructions which I think were correct, and the evidence submitted was, in my estimation, sufficient to warrant the jury in arriving at the conclusion that the confession was voluntary and was not induced by threat or deceit or other improper means.