Opinion

Palmer v. State

  • 213 Ark. 956
  • 214 S.W.2d 372
  • 1948 Ark. LEXIS 564
Court
Supreme Court of Arkansas
Filed
Oct 18, 1948
Status
Published
Author
Robins
On the bench
McFaddin, Robins
Cited by
13 cases
Authority
More cited than 43.9%

The opinion

Robins, J.,

dissenting. In my opinion a material portion of the evidence in this case — all that part pertaining to the alleged oral confession made by appellant to the officers — was inadmissible.

It is not disputed that appellant was taken into custody and held without any warrant of arrest and was not “forthwith” taken before a magistrate, as required by the provisions of § 3729, Pope’s Digest.' During the time he was thus illegally detained the alleged confession was obtained.

My views on the inadmissibility of such a confession are set forth fully in my dissenting opinion in the case of State v. Browning, 206 Ark. 791 , 178 S. W. 2d 77 ; and it is unnecessary to reiterate them here. Some recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States which support these views are: Ashcraft v. State of Tennessee, 322 U. S. 143 , 88 L. Ed. 1193 , 64 S. Ct. 921 , and Haley v. State of Ohio, 332 U. S. 596 , 68 S. Ct. 302 .

The confession was obtained through a violation of appellant’s lights under the statute above cited and under the “due process” clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Therefore it ought not to have been received in evidence.

Courts should see to it that every accused person receives in full measure the protection that our federal and state constitutions, as well as our statutes, provide for him; and neither lieinousness of the crime with which he is charged nor apparent obviousness of his guilt ought ever to swerve us from this high duty.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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