People v. Cahill

Opinion

GEORGE, J.

For a number of years, decisions of both the United States Supreme Court and this court have held that whenever a “coerced” or “involuntary” confession has been received in evidence at a criminal trial, “automatic reversal” of the conviction is required, without regard to the strength of the additional evidence received, unrelated to the confession, that tends to establish the defendant’s guilt. (See, e.g., Payne v. Arkansas (1958) 356 U.S. 560, 568 [2 L.Ed.2d 975, 981, 78 S.Ct. 844]; People v. Berve (1958) 51 Cal.2d 286, 290 [332 P.2d 97]; People v. Trout (1960) 54 Cal.2d…