State v. Fowler

The question for decision is whether the defendant’s statement to the sheriff that he had killed a man in South Carolina and was an escaped convict from that State was properly admitted in evidence against him on the present prosecution. The answer is to be evolved from the record.

We start with, the general rule that evidence of one offense is inadmissible to prove another and independent crime, the two being wholly disconnected and in no way related to each other. S. v. Choate, 228 N.C. 491, 46 S.E. 2d 476; S. v. Harris, 223 N.C. 697, 28 S.E. 2d 232; S. v. Smith, 204 N.C. 638, 169 S.E. 230;…