Court Opinion

ID: 9749924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:05:47.960629+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:00.138653
License: Public Domain

Webber, J.
(Concurring)
I concur in the result. I would add only a comment as to the rationale which underlies the rule pertaining to confessions. Jackson v. Denno, 378 U. S. 368, 12 L.Ed. (2nd) 908; 84 S. Ct. 1774, cited and discussed in the opinion of the court, not only makes it clear that the procedure long followed in Maine meets all constitutional requirements but also indicates why preliminary findings by the court are deemed necessary. A jury, satisfied that a confession is factual and truthful and leaves no doubt as to the guilt of the respondent, might find it difficult to make an impartial and objective assessment of its voluntariness. The Supreme *122Court was of opinion that a presiding justice, trained and experienced in the difficult art of rejecting even the most convincing evidence if it be improperly obtained, would be better able to make that unemotional evaluation of the voluntariness of the confession which justice requires. Like considerations prompt the use of similar procedure when the issue is the voluntariness of consent to the making of a blood test which may be used against a criminal respondent. Where, as in the instant case, there is no doubt that the blood tested was the respondent’s and the test clearly demonstrates that he must have been intoxicated at the time of his allegedly unlawful operation of a motor vehicle, there is a demonstrable hazard that a jury might not be disposed to examine too closely the circumstances under which purported consent was obtained. It is natural and instinctive for the layman serving as juror to go directly to the heart of the matter which is guilt or innocence. He has not been schooled by legal training to concern himself with the methods by which guilt is shown. He tends understandably to resist the concept that the man who is obviously guilty must nevertheless go free unless his guilt can be demonstrated by legally admissible evidence lawfully obtained. It is reasonable to hope and believe that one trained in the law and fortified by judicial experience can more readily insulate his mind from the near certainty of guilt and make a dispassionate judgment as to the methods by which blood test evidence was obtained. In the instant case the justice below expressly declined to make a preliminary factual determination as to the existence or nonexistence of voluntary consent to the making of the test. The respondent has consistently and inaccurately referred to this issue as one of law for the court. It is rather one of fact which must first be determined by the court before being submitted to the jury. I agree with the conclusion of the court that the exceptions must be sustained and the case tried anew.