MCELVEEN ET AL.
v.
STATE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
McElveen and other defendants appealed their convictions, challenging whether sufficient evidence of the corpus delicti existed to admit their confessions. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the State had met its burden of establishing prima facie proof of the crime through circumstantial evidence.
The State satisfied the corpus delicti requirement. The evidence—including the position and physical condition of the defendants, their clothing, and their location in a secluded area at an unusual hour—tended to show that the crime was committed, which is sufficient for admission of confessions without requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
“a 'confession should not be received in evidence * * * unless there is at least some prima facie proof of the corpus delicti.'”
Establishes the legal requirement that a confession cannot be admitted without prima facie proof that the crime was committed.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDefendants confessed to committing a crime. When discovered by police at one or two o'clock in the morning in a secluded spot, their position, physica…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Corpus Delicti Rule cases and more on FLexlaw
THOMAS, Justice.
We will not soil the pages of our reports with the details of the sordid crime which these defendants confessed they committed.
The appellants question the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the corpus delicti as a basis for the introduction of the confessions. There is no need to reiterate the reasons for the rule that a “confession should not be received in evidence * * * unless there is at least some prima facie proof of the corpus de-licti.” Keir v. State, 152 Fla. 389, 11 So. 2d 886, 888. The commission by someone of the crime charged need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to make the confession admissible, but it is enough if the evidence tends to show that the crime was committed. Graham v. State, 153 Fla. 807, 16 So. 2d 59.
In the instant case the State met the requirement. The position of the men when discovered by the police, the condition of their bodies, the nature of their clothing, and their location in a secluded spot at one or two o’clock in the morning tended to show that the crime charged was committed.
The judgment is—
Affirmed.
ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL, SEBRING and MATHEWS, JJ., concur. DREW, J., and WISEHEART, Associate Justice, dissent.
DREW, Justice
(dissenting).
Much more is involved here than the guilt or innocence of two mature men charged with a repulsive crime. A principle of law that is basic in our jurisprudence is involved. In fine, it is that principle which prohibits punishment for crime on a naked confession without additional proof of the corpus delicti. If this principle of law had been as deeply imbedded in the jurisprudence of some other countries as it is in our own there is little doubt that many who are now dead would be living and many innocent people now rotting in the dungeons of many foreign prisons would be free.
Standing alone, the evidence of the State established only a suspicion that these men may have committed some sort of offense. In my judgment there was no legal proof, direct or circumstantial, that proved or tended to prove the offense charged in the information was committed.
Every normal impulse is to affirm these convictions where the confessions in the record before us so clearly establish that the crime was committed. These confessions definitely tend to blur our vision and it is difficult to see the real question which lies beyond. It was said long ago that ours is a government of laws and not of men. The real purpose of courts is to keep it so.
I would reverse the judgments.
WISEHEART, Associate Justice, concurs.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (12 total)
-
Frazier v. State, 107 So. 2d 16 (Fla. 1958)…ther direct or circumstantial. Tucker v. State, 1912, 64 Fla. 518, 59 So. 941. The corpus delicti need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is enough if the evidence tends to show that the crime was committed. McElveen v. State, Fla.1954, 72 So. 2d 785; Graham v. State, 1943, 153 Fla. 807, 16 So. 2d 59. The only question is whether the evidence of the corpus delicti is prima facie sufficient to authorize the admission of the confession. Nickels v. State, 1925, 90 Fla. 659, 106 So. 479, supra; Grah…
-
Stone v. State, 378 So. 2d 765 (Fla. 1979)…her direct or circumstantial. Tucker v. State, 1912, 64 Fla. 518, 59 So. 941. The corpus delicti need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is enough if the evidence tends to show that the crime was committed. McElveen v. State, Fla. 1954, 72 So. 2d 785; Graham v. State, 1943, 153 Fla. 807, 16 So. 2d 59. The only question is whether the evidence of the corpus delicti is prima facie sufficient to authorize the admission of the confession. Nickels v. State, 1925, 90 Fla. 659, 106 So. 479, supra; Grah…
-
Alva Gene Franklin v. State, 257 So. 2d 21 (Fla. 1971)…9 So. 344 (1921) ; Jackson v. State, 84 Fla. 646, 94 So. 505 (1922) ; English v. State, 122 Fla. 77, 164 So. 848 (1935) ; Lason v. State, 152 Fla. 440, 12 So. 2d 305 (1943) ; Fine v. State, 153 Fla. 297, 14 So. 2d 408 (1943) ; and McElveen v. State, 72 So. 2d 785 (Fla.1954). . See Note 2, supra. . See Note 2, supra. . 22 F.L.P., Sodomy, § 2 (p. 326). .Id. . Walsingham v. State, 250 So. 2d 857 (Ma.1971).…
Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Keir v. State, 152 Fla. 389 (Fla. 1943)
- Graham v. State, 153 Fla. 807 (Fla. 1943)