Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court May 15, 1818 (Commonwealth v. Drake)

The Court

having taken time to consider the grounds of the motion for a new trial, the chief justice observed that none of them appeared sufficient to support the motion, which was overruled, and the defendant was sentenced, (a)

Confessions made to a clergyman or priest, for the sake of easing the culprit’s conscience, may be given in evidence.— Peake, Ev. 253, Am. from 5th Lond. ed.