Silence as an Admission

Criminal Law-Silence as an Admission of Guilt

The defendant was indicted for robbery, being accused of taking four dollars and ten cents from the person of Oscar Glenn by force and against his will. At the county jail, the night after the robbery, the eight or ten prisoners, among whom was the defendant, were lined up for Glenn's inspection. Glenn pointed out the defendant as the one who had robbed him. The defendant remained silent, and made no denial of the accusation that he was the identical person who committed the robbery. Testimony of this fact was admitted at the trial, over the defendant's objection. He was convicted, and appealed, claiming among other things, the admission of the above testimony as error. Held, that silence in the face of pertinent and direct accusation of crime partakes of the nature of a confession, and is admissible as a circumstance to be...