The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, in killing John Wishart. At the-inquest held to ascertain-the cause of his death, the defendant then under arrest, charged with the murder, was brought by the sheriff before the coroner and sworn. While denying his guilt, he made-statements, touching his relations with deceased, and about his own conduct at or about the time of the homicide. These statements were proved upon the trial under the defendant’s objection and exception, but no ground of objection was stated to the court so far as the papers show. Assuming, however, that the objections and exceptions were sufficient in form, we-have to consider whether the defendant’s declarations made before the coroner, under oath, while under arrest on suspicion, but without warrant, charged with this crime, were admissible in evidence. By section 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, “a confession of a defendant, whether in the course of judicial proceedings or to a private person, can be given in evidence against him, unless made under the influence of fear produced by threats,” &e. The remainder of the section has no-relation to the question before us. The evidence offered was not a confession, but, on the contrary, a denial of his guilt of the crime. The statements made will not, however, be treated, I apprehend, by any harsher rule, than if they were confessions in the strictest sense of guilt They were confessions or statements of his conduct and declarations about the time of the murder, and where he was, and what he knew or saw of the deceased, at the same time. I shall hold that such statements are controlled by the section cited, and that it will not be restricted by the courts to admissions of guilt alone. The pur
First. That the confession was made under the influence of fear; second, because it was taken before a magistrate after the-defendant was accused of, and under arrest for, the perpetration of the crime; and third, that it was not voluntarily made, being a sworn deposition.
He finds in the case no evidence of threats, and so dismisses the first ground. A summary statement of the law as well settled prior to the Criminal Code, is his answer to the second objection. He says (91 N. Y. 247):
First. That all confessions material to the issue, voluntarily made by a party, whether oral or written, and however authenticated, were inadmissible as evidence against him on a trial for
The McGfloin case seems to me to sustain the rulings of the learned justice on the trial The language of the Criminal Code is broad, distinct and positive; it allows the evidence to be put in on the trial and its weight and value to be adjudged by the jury. Why shall we not accept it as it reads and according to its plain intent ? Why shall we again go back to the vague and nebulous hypotheses of possible influences upon the mind of the prisoner, of his fear and anxrety and confusion arising from his situation ? He is now a competent witness in his own behalf, and can explain his declarations and conduct after-abundant time for reflection. The acts and declarations of the prisoner, as sworn to by him, tended to exculpate him from the alleged crime, and were of no consequence except as they were afterwards in some respects proved to be false. He confessed no fact before the coroner tending to convict him of the crime now charged upon him. Why, then, shall it be presumed that
The request to charge at folio 676* was clearly untenable. The jury was told it could not convict upon the defendant’s confession alone. But it is not the law that there must be evidence enough to satisfy of guilt outside of the confessions. The jury has the right to resort to the confessions to aid the other evidence in the case, and upon the whole determine as to the guilt
Upon the merits, the verdict of the jury is sustained by the ■evidence in the case.
The judgment and order should be affirmed.
Prior to the adoption of the Code of Criminal Procedure it was held that declarations or confessions of a person were not involuntary because made after his arrest and while in custody. Murphy v. People, 63 N.Y. 591; Willett v. People, 27 Hun, 469.
When section 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was adopted the Legislature declared that confessions of a defendant, “ whether in the course of judicial proceedings or to a private person,” can be given in evidence.
Two exceptions were declared to the rule: (1) H the confessions were made under influence of fear, produced by threats. (2) If made upon stipulation of the district attorney that the person should not be prosecuted therefor. The case before ús does not fall within either of the exceptions. There was nothing in .the evidence before the trial court, at the time the declarations of the defendant made before the' coroner were received, to indicate that the declarations were “ made under the influence of fear produced by threats.”
The test as to whether the ruling was correct must be made upon the evidence as it stood when the declarations were ruled upon and received. Murphy v. People, supra.
We look into the evidence in vain for any features of it which carry the case within the exceptions in the section of the Code of Criminal Procedure under consideration. Thus we are brought to say that the general rule prescribed by the section allows the declarations of the defendant to be received in evidence. Furthermore, the construction put upon the section by the Court of Appeals, in People v. McGloin (91 N. Y. 245; 1 N. Y. Crim. 154) seems in point, and it is our duty to follow and apply that construction in this cáse. It may be observed that there was not evidence in the case before us that called for a close discrimination upon the question of whether or not there
A subsequent part of the section from which the quotation has been made declares that “ a confession is not sufficient to warrant his conviction without additional proof that the crime charged has been committed”
The learned trial judge applied this statutory rule to the case in hand In reply to a request he said: “ I charge, as I have before, that the confession is not sufficient without additional proof that the crime has been committed.” He also charged that there must be corroboration of the confession tending to connect the defendant with the crime. The language of the trial judge quoted, carried to the jury the rule laid down by.the statute. People v. Williams, 29 Hun, 520; 1 N. Y. Crim. Rep. 336. .
There was no error in refusing to charge the jury that they “must not consider the evidence of Louis Mondon.” The effect, force and credit to be given to that evidence was properly left for the jury to say. Chapman Ex’rs v. Ins. Co., MSS. opinion, Fourth Department. The jury were instructed “ they might disregard his evidence; it is a question for them whether they would give any weight to it, and what weight.” The charge in that regard was sufficiently favorable to the defendant. Coleman v. People, 58 N. Y. 555.
The case seems to have been carefully tried, and the ques tions of fact very fairly and faithfully submitted to the jury.
-In People v. Murphy, 4 Hun, 102; S. C. affirmed, 63 N. T. 590, it was held that “to authorize a conviction in criminal cases, upon circumstantial evidence, it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove the case to the exclusion of every possibility that the crime was committed by a person other than the prisoner. It is sufficient if the evidence satisfy the understanding and conscience of the jury, and exclude from their minds all reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused.”
In the case in hand, the suggestion that another, or even others, may have been concerned in and in complicity with the defendant in the crime, is not sufficient to warrant a distrust and disturbance of 'the verdict of the jury.
*.
The request was that if there was not sufficient evidence without the so-called confessions to satisfy the jury of the defendant’s guilt, they must acquit.