Lee v. Mississippi (332 U.S. 742)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 19, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 332 U.S. 742 · 68 S. Ct. 300
- Decided
- January 19, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Murphy
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Murphy delivered the opinion of the Court. This case involves a question of procedure under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Does a defendant in a state criminal proceeding lose the right to contend that a confession was coerced because of his testimony that the confession was in fact never made? Petitioner, a 17-year-old Negro, was indicted by a grand jury in Mississippi on a charge of assault with intent to ravish a female of previous chaste character. During the course of the trial, the state offered the testimony of two city detectives as to an alleged oral confession obtained by them from petitioner. Objection was made that this confession had been secured as the result of duress, threats and violence inflicted upon petitioner by two unidentified police officers several hours prior to the confession. The jury retired and a preliminary hearing was held before the trial judge as to the voluntariness of this confession. After various witnesses appeared, including the petitioner himself, the judge concluded that the confession was voluntary and that the testimony in relation thereto was admissible. This testimony proved to be the crucial element leading to the jury’s conviction of petitioner. His sentence was fixed at 18 years in prison. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on appeal, rejecting…
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