David Josiah Brewer

“ It may be, and undoubtedly often is, the case, that, though incompetent testimony be given, the defendant prefers that it shall remain, in order, for certain purposes, to take advantage of it in the argument before the jury. ”

“ In this there is nothing which by any possibility can be tortured into a suggestion of threat or a temptation of hope. Power simply stated the obvious fact that they wer trying to unravel a horrible mystery, and the further fact that Brown had charged the defendant with the crime, and the replies of Bram were given as freely and voluntarily as it is possible to conceive. ”

“ Bram v. United States
Mr. Justice BREWER, dissenting.
I dissent from the opinion and judgment in this case—
First, because I think the testimony was not open to objection. 'A confession, if freely and voluntarily made, is evidence of the most satisfactory character.' Hopt v. People, 110 U.S. 574, 584, 4 Sup. Ct. 202, reaffirmed in Sparf v. U.S., 156 U.S. 51, 55, 15 Sup. Ct. 273. The fact that the defendant was in custody and in irons does not destroy the competency of a confession. ”