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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Ohlin
Bruton v. United States
Citation:
391 U.S. 123 (1968)Facts
A joint trial of petitioner and one Evans in the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri resulted in the conviction of both by a jury on a federal charge of armed postal robbery. A postal inspector testified that Evans orally confessed to him that Evans and petitioner committed the armed robbery. The postal inspector obtained the oral confession, and another in which Evans admitted he had an accomplice whom he would not name. Both petitioner and Evans appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. While the court set aside Evans’ conviction, it affirmed petitioner’s conviction because the trial judge instructed the jury that although Evans’ confession was competent evidence against Evans it was inadmissible hearsay against petitioner and therefore had to be disregarded in determining petitioner’s guilt or innocence.
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