Legal Question in Criminal Law in Louisiana

Re: Defendant admits crime to another person

Yes, unless the communication was privileged, or it was to a police officer in his capacity as an officer and he failed mirandize him .....

Re: Defendant admits crime to another person

Yes.

Re: Defendant admits crime to another person

Dear Law Guru Friend,

You bet! That is, unless the person to whom the defendant admits something enjoys some kind of a privilege against testifying, such as a person's spouse, a person's doctor or a person's priest or clergyman. In other words, if a husband came home and admitted to his wife that he committed a crime, and his wife were called to the stand, she could claim privilege and refuse to testify against her husband. The same applies to one's doctor or one's priest. Now as far as the doctor or priest are concerned, I am pretty sure that whatever is told to the doctor must have been told in the course of his treating the patient; or, in the case of the priest, in the course of his hearing the penitent's confession. If a defendant just walked up the priest in the hallway of the parish hall and blurted out that he had committed a crime, I would not think that this incriminating statement would be privileged. There is more to it than this, but this is something to think about. Even a criminal has the right to keep his mouth shut; but once he opens it, what he says can be used against him.

Sincerely,

Hardy Parkerson, Atty.

Lake Charles