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Evidence Keyed to Sklansky
Chambers v. Mississippi
Citation:
410 U.S. 284 (1973).Facts
On Saturday June 14, 1969, two Woodville police officers entered a local bar and pool hall to arrest C.C. Jackson. Thereafter, a crowd gathered and intervened with the arrest of Jackson. A number of hostile events occurred, and more police officers arrived on the scene. Eventually, Officer Aaron “Sonny” Liberty was shot several times in the back. Before dying, Liberty fired both barrels of his riot gun into an alley, hitting Chambers.
Shortly after the shooting, James Williams, Berkley Turner, and Gable McDonald discovered that Chambers was not dead and took him to the hospital. Chambers survived and was charged with Liberty’s murder.
After this event, McDonald left town, but returned at the persuasion of Reverend Stokes and gave a confession to Chamber’s attorneys. This was one of multiple confessions to Liberty’s murder. McDonald’s was arrested, but repudiated his confession at his preliminary hearing. He was then let free.
At Chamber’s trial, he attempted to introduce into evidence McDonald’s confessions, testimony from McDonald’s supposed alibi, and testimony regarding McDonald disposing of his .22-caliber revolver after the shooting. The State objected to all of these and none were allowed into evidence.
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