Smalling

The appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, with punishment fixed at imprisonment for life, and now appeals from the judgment. For a reversal of the judgment he relies upon the following assigned errors of law: 1. The court erred in admitting in evidence the written confession of defendant, under objection; 2. The court erred in excluding exhibit B from the jury, it being the evidence of what occurred on the discharge of the jury at the first trial of the action, and in sustaining the people’s objection thereto; 3. The court erred in denying defendant’s motion to be discharged from custody, and in pronouncing judgment on said defendant; 4. The court erred in instructing the jury to find for the people upon the pleas of former acquittal, former conviction, and former jeopardy.

The confession of the defendant was clearly admissible. It appears to have been an entirely free and voluntary statement. The fact that defendant’s sister was also under arrest for the commission of the homicide, and that the confession may have been made to free her from suspicion of guilt, is a matter that in no way tends to invalidate it as material and competent evidence. Again, this…