Court Opinion

ID: 9616663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:48:39.658503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:42:52.731668
License: Public Domain

Quillian, Justice,
dissenting. The defendant, arrested without a warrant, was not, as the law requires, carried by the officer before a magistrate (Code Ann. § 27-212, as amended by Ga. L. 1956, pp. 796, 797), and although nothing in the record indicates the jail in the county where the crime was committed was unsafe or that there was danger of mob violence, the defendant was, contrary to law, carried to another county and there lodged in jail. He was there kept isolated from his friends and acquaintances until, after several days, he made the confession suggested by one. of the officers.
In this factual posture, it is my opinion the confession was extracted from the defendant through illegal and oppressive measures amounting to coercion. The confession was thus divested of the quality of being freely and voluntarily given. It is my further opinion that, while the search of the defendant’s person was legal when made, when the accused was not carried before a magistrate the arrest became illegal and the search made incident to the arrest likewise became illegal. For the reasons given, I am compelled to dissent from the views expressed in the majority opinion and the judgment.