Brief Fact Summary. The defendant, Arthur Barrett (the “defendant”), appealed from a conviction arising from the theft and sale of a collection of postage stamps from a museum in Massachusetts. The admissibility of a statement made by the defendant’s alleged co-conspirator was at issue.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. Statements offered to “exculpate the accused [must] be corroborated so as to ‘clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.’ ”
There is no question as to the principle that where the officers of the government have issued a patent in due form of law, which on its face is sufficient to convey the title to the land described in it, such patent is to be treated as valid in actions at law, as distinguished from suits in equity, subject, nowever, at all times to the inquiry whether such officers had the lawful authority to make a conveyance of the title.
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