Section 11.38 Role of Jury

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

VII. (§11.38) Role of Jury

If there is an issue concerning the voluntariness of a confession, the court should hold a hearing outside the presence of the jury and make a finding that the confession is voluntary before admitting the confession into evidence before the jury. Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368 (1964); Sims v. Ga., 385 U.S. 538 (1967).

On the issue of the voluntariness of a confession:

The proper and well-established procedure is to conduct a hearing out of the presence of the jury on that issue, and if the court concludes from that evidence that the statement was free from improper inducement and that it was voluntarily given, the statement is admitted into evidence, and the jury determines the weight to be given to the statement.

State v. Edwards, 30 S.W.3d 226, 231 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000). The proper remedy for erroneously failing to hold a hearing on a motion to suppress a defendant’s statement as involuntary outside the presence of the jury is to remand the matter to the...