Forfeiture and Coerced Confessions

• Forfeiture by Failing to Object
• Coerced Confessions and Due Process
• Threats to Charge a Relative as an Inducement to Confess

Failure object to the admissibility of evidence at the trial court level precludes, as a general rule, an appellate court from considering the issue.  An appellate court, however, has the discretion to consider an issue not previously objected to if the issue involves pure questions of law on undisputed facts.  A confession coerced by a threat to arrest a close relative is a violation of the Due Process Clause and not admissible in evidence.  An exception to this rule applies when probable cause to arrest the relative exists.

Defendant Enrique Mayorga Jimenez lived in a residential neighborhood in the City of Highland, California, on Elmwood Road, with his two sons (ages 14 and 17) and his elderly disabled mother.  Seven or ....