Salt Lake Telegram | 1931-04-02 | Page 4 | On Confessions

ON CONFESSIONS fAILURE to get the defendants defendant's confession before eore the Jury in the thc recent trial of the thc Dayle murder case brings home a sharp les- les les leson lesson son on from which the people may derive cont con considerable con con- t profit if it is heeded by the police pollee In Iti this particular case police pollee detectives Obtained the confession and it mu must t have seemed t to them that an otherwise impenetrable impenetrable mystery was wa solved thereby ComiC Consid Considering ering the police results in other notorious h homicides in Salt bake ake where confessions have been conspicuously lacking and the murders th therefore unsolved the thc admissions of the Da Dayle le woman surely to took tooka la a great load off pH the police mind I IThe The fate of the Da Dayle lc confession however however however how how- ever proved that the feat of or the detectives was after all no feat at all It was more a waste of or time Most confessions are worth less than the paper upon which they arc written unless they may be corroborated by sufficient evidence evidence evi evi- dence t to make maize a case without them The most dangerous of documents along the confession line linc however are those obtained obtained ob ob- ob- ob tamed by y police without the assistance of a legal mind No confession should ever be obtained there is present a representative representative taUve of pf the prosecutors prosecutor's office No doubt the states state's attorney relied greatly great great- ly upon the womans woman's confession in ill the Dayle case His failure to get it before the jury may be in large degree to the fact I that when it was being prepared for the prisoners prisoner's pris I oner's signature he le was not present to give givet t to th the police the benefit o of his legal mind Jean Dayle cost the state of Utah a great neal deal of money The complacent police wasted considerable time upon her Her Hr trial re resulted re- re in a palpable miscarriage of f j justice Most ost o of or this however ocr might have been averted by the application of ordinary intelligence Intelligence intelligence Intel intel- at tile the outset It cannot be too much to expect that be before before be- be fore rore self-satisfied self police detectives wring another another another an an- other confession from a prisoner th they y take the precaution of ot having a legal representative tive of ot the states state's attorney with them to help make it bullet