Motion to suppress confession

Motion to suppress confession

If the defendant has made any statements that counsel wants to prevent from being admitted into evidence, the recommended and usual procedure requires a primary motion to the court requesting a hearing on the issue of voluntariness.FN92 It is important to make the objection as soon as possible. If the motion is successful, the jury will not hear the evidence. If the motion is unsuccessful, counsel can argue to the jury that confession should not be considered if the jury finds that the confession was not freely and voluntarily given. Practitioners generally believe that this argument is seldom useful, except in those cases where the statements are not particularly incriminatory, or the police procedures were particularly unsavory.