State v. Phinney

The issues in this appeal from a conviction for arson are whether certain confessions should have been excluded as being involuntary and whether the trial court erred in using the preponderance standard in initially passing upon the admissibility of the confessions. We hold that the confessions were not inadmissible as a matter of law but that the trial court should have used the reasonable doubt test in determining admissibility of the confessions.

*146Prior to trial the defendant moved to suppress two signed statements. After hearing, the trial court ruled that “on the preponderance standard of…