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102 Miss. 549

Mathews v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court

Decided March 15, 1912

Mississippi Supreme Court · decided 1912-03-15

Hon. H. C. Moungeb, Judge. John Mathews was convicted of larceny and appeals. The facts are fully- stated in the opinion of the court. The alleged confessions to Mr. Magruder which were admitted in evidence were inadmissible on two grounds, to-wit: First. Because the first confession made to Mrs. Heath, being tainted with the effect of threats, persuasion and violence would be presumed in law to make illegal and impertinent any second confession.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1912-03-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently October 2008

11 state decisions

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Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Reed, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2Appellant, a negro boy fourteen years of age, was convicted of stealing a diamond pin from Mrs. Heath, which she valued at about three hundred and 'fifty dollars.

¶3It is shown that Mrs. Heath wore the pin at all times, during the night as well as the day. The pin was lost on a certain morning in September, 1910. Mrs. Heath testified that she placed the pin on a cushion in her room and went to breakfast, and when she returned to the room she missed the pin. The appellant was in the employ of Mrs. Heath, and she had directed him to sweep the hall into which her room opened. She accused the boy, and at first he denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the pin. Having failed to get a confession from him by various promises, she sent for the town marshal, Mr. Magruder, who took him in hand. Mr. Magruder told the boy that it would be better for him to get the pin, and said that, if he would tell the truth about the pin and get it, “it would be all right,” and also said, “John, tell me all about this; I don’t want to put you in any trouble.” Mr. Magruder made two visits to the boy. It is shown by the testimony that appellant made confessions to Mr. Magruder. It is also shown that the appellant was whipped during the day by Messrs. Richmond and Heath, and that he confessed after being whipped.

¶4The trial court erred in admitting the confessions made by appellant under the circumstances in this case. Such confessions were surely not free and. voluntary.

¶5Reversed and remanded.

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