Confessions

Question 1

At the end of the [Jackson v. Denno] hearing, the Court refuses to exclude Defendant’s post-arrest statement form evidence at trial. What procedural step, if any, can you take to have the jury at Defendant’s trial consider whether the Defendant’s post-arrest statement was voluntarily made? What evidence must you present, if any, to get the Court to allow the jury to consider the voluntariness issue? Explain fully.

Answer 1

If the defendant can show that the voluntariness of the confession is an issue of fact, then he may have the issue of voluntariness presented to the jury. The jury shall be instructed that it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the confession was voluntary in order to consider it as evidence.

Question 2

You learn that the prosecutor intends to have Officer testify at trial about his recollection of Lenny’s confession at the police station. What procedural step, if any, can you take to have the Court exclude Officer’s testimony about this confession from evidence.

Answer 2

I can move to suppress the confession on the basis that oral confessions are inadmissible in Texas unless a specific statutory exception applies. Here the confession was the result of a custodial interrogation and was not recorded nor did it lead to evidence that corroborated the statement, thus it is inadmissible.

Question 3

What is required for an electronic recording of a confession to be admissible at trial?

Answer 3

The confession must be

1) voluntary,
2) recorded on a an adequate recording device,
3) accurate
4) all key voices must be identified,
5) the statutory warnings must be given on the recording and;
6) the recording must be turned over 20 days prior to trial.