Crane v. Commonwealth

Respectfully, I dissent. There is no ar-ticulable distinction between evidence relative to voluntariness and evidence relevant to credibility. Evidence that a confession was coerced, of physical or psychological intimidation surrounding the taking of the confession, is relevant to its credibility. It bears on its truthfulness.

The fact that the trial judge has already considered the same evidence in making a decision whether to admit or exclude the confession makes no difference. Neither does the fact that under RCr 9.78 it is solely the function of the judge to decide whether to admit the…