2-908-535 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Jesse Johnson Finley of Florida, 1865-1880. Finley, Hon. Jesse Johnson of Fla, between 1865 and 1880. Judge of the Confederate States Court from the District of Florida in 1861. Brig. Gen. in Confederate Army. [Politician, lawyer, soldier: Mayor of Memphis, Tennessee; Circuit Judge. In 1853 the Florida Supreme Court reversed Finley's decision in the case of State of Florida v. Simon, A Slave, and established a precedent that confessions extracted by threats or promises are inadmissible at trial. Simon's defence lawyer had requested that Finley 'exclude Simon's confession from the jury's consideration, arguing that Simon's statements to Mayor Sierra were elicited by undue terror...'. Finley had denied the motion]. ].