State v. Johnson

HUSKINS, Justice.

Defendant first assigns as error the denial of his motion to suppress his statement without finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the State had sustained its burden of proving that defendant’s statement was voluntarily given.

The United States Constitution forbids the admission in a criminal trial of a confession coerced from a defendant. Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 5 L.Ed. 2d 760, 81 S.Ct. 735 (1961). In North Carolina, the legislature has statutorily specified the procedures for determining whether a defendant’s statements are voluntarily made. When the prosecution…