Opinion

People v. Robinson

  • 386 Mich. 551
  • 194 N.W.2d 709
  • 1972 Mich. LEXIS 201
Court
Michigan Supreme Court
Filed
Feb 25, 1972
Status
Published
Author
Black
On the bench
Kavanagh, Swainson, Williams, Brennan, Black, Adams
Cited by
265 cases
Authority
More cited than 9.4%

holding that a defendant’s incriminating statement was involuntary where police denied the defendant medical treatment before the interrogation and insinuated that defendant’s pregnant wife was in custody

How later courts described this case

  • holding that a defendant’s incriminating statement was involuntary where police denied the defendant medical treatment before the interrogation and insinuated that defendant’s pregnant wife was in custody
  • explaining that the "manifest injustice” requirement is simply a requirement for showing prejudice, articulating two-pronged test for harmless error
  • recognizing that threats involving family members impact the voluntariness of detainees’ statements
  • defendant confessed to obtain the release of his wife

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Black, J.

(dissenting). I agree with the first paragraph of the Court’s opinion, that only. It is re-quoted here for the convenience of the reader:

“There is not much doubt that Michael Maurice Robinson shot and killed William Finnk during the holdup of Mr. Finnk’s jewelry store. He was tried for the crime and convicted by the jury of first-degree murder and the evidence in the record is ample to sustain the conviction.”

I regard Judge Quinn’s opinion for Division 1 ( 23 Mich App 397 ) as the one which analyzes best the proof of this latest cold-blooded murder of another hapless shopkeeper, and as the preferred choice of successive appellate views of the questions that were raised on appeal to the Court of Appeals.

My vote to affirm is cast, and I therefore dissent.

T. E. Brennan, J., concurred with Black, J.

Adams, J., concurred in the result.

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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