Ashby v. State

Appellants were convicted of inflicting injury in the course of a robbery and were sentenced to life imprisonment. In this appeal, they contend that the trial court erred in permitting the State to introduce oral statements made to the police while in custody because the statements were induced by a promise to mitigate punishment.

On March 10, 1974, a filling station in Evansville, Indiana was robbed by two men and the attendant beaten with a hammer by one and cut with a knife by the other. A third man, stationed nearby, drove the two men to and from the station, and was well aware of their…