Ruffin v. State

Appellant and Areather Cotton were jointly indicted for arson in the burning of a dwelling house, the property of Cotton. A severance was granted, appellant was convicted and sentenced to the state penitentiary for two years. On this appeal he urges, first, that the testimony is insufficient to establish the corpus delicti aliunde his alleged confession, and, second, that the confession was not admissible in evidence because it was not shown to have been made freely and voluntarily.

Whether the State established, aside from the confession, that the fire was of incendiary origin, depends upon…