North Carolina v. Trexler5/6/1986
The sole question presented by this appeal is whether the majority of the panel in the Court of Appeals correctly determined that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss on the basis that the State had failed to prove the corpus delicti of the charged offense. The majority felt that it was bound by this Court's decision in State v. Brown, 308 N.C. 181, 301 S.E.2d 89 (1983).
There is some question in the present case as to whether defendant's extrajudicial statements should be categorized as a confession
or an admission. An admission is a statement of pertinent facts which, in light of other evidence, is incriminating. 2 Brandis on North Carolina Evidence § 182, n. 3 (1982). Our State law defines a confession as "an acknowledgement in expressed words by an accused in a criminal case of his guilt to the crime charged or of some essential part of it." State v. Fox, 277 N.C. 1, 25, 175 S.E.2d 561, 576 (1970). See also State v. Shaw, 284 N.C. 366, 373, 200 S.E.2d 585, 589 (1973). A confession, therefore, is a type of an admission. 2 Brandis on North Carolina Evidence, § 182 (1982); 3 Wigmore, Evidence § 821 (1970). We conclude that the corpus delicti rule applies with equal force to confessions and admissions. Cf. State v. Spaulding, 288 N.C. 397, 219 S.E.2d 178 (1975), death sentence vacated, 428 U.S. 904, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1210 (1976); State v. Barber, 278 N.C. 268, 179 S.E.2d 404 (1971). The United States Supreme Court, in applying its corpus delicti rule in Opper v. United States, 348 U.S. 84, 90, 99 L. Ed. 101, 107 (1954), in part, stated: " n accused's admissions of essential facts or elements of the crime, subsequent to the crime, are of the same character as confessions and that corroboration should be required." Thus, regardless of whether defendant's statements constitute an actual confession or only amount to an admission, our long established rule of corpus delicti requires that there be corroborative evidence, independent of the statements, before defendant may be found guilty of the crime.
It is well established in this jurisdiction that a naked, uncorroborated, extrajudicial confession is not sufficient to support a criminal conviction. Our application of the corpus delicti rule before our decision in State v. Parker, 315 N.C. 222, 337 S.E.2d 487 (1985), required that there be corroborative evidence, independent of defendant's confession, which tended to prove the commission of the charged crime. State v. Franklin, 308 N.C. 682, 304 S.E.2d 579 (1983); State v. Green, 295 N.C. 244, 244 S.E.2d 369 (1978); State v. Thompson, 287 N.C. 303, 214 S.E.2d 742 (1975), death sentence vacated, 428 U.S. 908, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1213 (1976); State v. Bass, 253 N.C. 318, 116 S.E.2d 772 (1960).
This Court recently examined the corpus delicti rule in State v. Parker, 315 N.C. 222, 337 S.E.2d 487. After an exhaustive review of the case law in this and other jurisdictions, Justice Billings, speaking for the Court, in part, stated:
We adopt a rule in non-capital cases that when the State relies upon the defendant's confession to obtain a conviction, it is no longer necessary that there be independent proof tending to establish t
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