State of West Virginia v. Thurman Matthew Vance

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Thurman Matthew Vance's conviction for breaking and entering, holding that the trial court properly admitted his confession after a mandatory in camera hearing because the State need prove voluntariness only by a preponderance of the evidence. The Court adopted the “Massachusetts” or “humane” rule for determining voluntariness — under which the jury must find a confession voluntary by a preponderance before considering it — but held there was no reversible error where the defense neither requested nor received a voluntariness instruction. It also held that an unrecorded pretrial jury orientation meeting is not a critical stage requiring the defendant's presence, while announcing prospectively that a court reporter must record such meetings, and rejected the challenges to the refused instructions and to the jury-selection statutes.