People v. Jackson

A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder and later fixed the penalty at life imprisonment. The appeal is from the judgment.

The victim, Michael Maroney, was killed during an attempted burglary or robbery of his home where, according to information given the defendant, he kept a valuable coin collection. Since defendant admitted firing the fatal shots when his departure from the Maroney home was resisted by the victim, he does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of guilt of the degree of the homicide. Instead, he contends that it was error to deny his motion to suppress certain incriminating statements made by him to police officers; he argues that had such motion been granted, his trial tactics would have been different—he would not have taken the stand and the People’s case would thus have been insufficient to convict. Defendant’s wife was also arrested after the homicide; citing People v. Trout, 54 Cal.2d 576, 583-584 [ 6 Cal.Rptr. 759 , 354 P.2d 231 , 80 A.L.R.2d 1418 ], he now contends that his alleged confession was involuntarily obtained under an implied promise by the police to release her in exchange therefor.

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