People v. Zepeda

Jesse Zepeda, defendant, was indicted for the crime of murder. On June 20,1967, at a bench trial and plea of not guilty, the court found the defendant guilty of murder as charged and sentenced him to be committed to the Illinois Youth Commission. This appeal raises the question of the propriety of the trial court’s ruling admitting into evidence over objection a confession of the defendant.

At the time of the alleged offense the defendant was a minor, sixteen years old. He made a pretrial motion to suppress a confession, but the trial court overruled the motion.

The defendant’s main contention…