Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/373/503/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 06:14:04+00:00

Document:
In a Washington State Court, petitioner was tried on a charge of robbery, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. Over his timely objection, there was admitted in evidence a written confession obtained after he had been held incommunicado for 16 hours and had been told that he could not call his wife until he had signed it. In accordance with local practice, the question as to the voluntariness of the confession was left for determination by the jury, and it brought in a general verdict of guilty.
Held: On the record in this case, the confession was not voluntary, and its admission in evidence violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 373 U. S. 504-520.
(a) A review of the entire record reveals that petitioner's account of the circumstances in which his written confession was obtained and signed was uncontradicted in its essential elements. Pp. 373 U. S. 507-513.
(b) The uncontroverted portions of the record disclose that petitioner's written confession was obtained in, and was the result of, an atmosphere of substantial coercion and inducement created by statements and actions of state authorities, which made its admission in evidence violative of due process. Pp. 373 U. S. 513-515.
(c) This Court cannot be precluded by the verdict of a jury from determining whether the circumstances under which a confession was obtained were such that its admission in evidence amounts to a denial of due process. Pp. 373 U. S. 515-518.
58 Wash.2d 716, 364 P.2d 935, judgment vacated and cause remanded.
The petitioner, Raymond L. Haynes, was tried in a Superior Court of the State of Washington on a charge of robbery, found guilty by a jury, and sentenced to imprisonment "for a term of not more than 20 years." The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, with four of nine judges dissenting. 58 Wash.2d 716, 364 P.2d 935. Certiorari was granted, 370 U.S. 902, to consider whether the admission of the petitioner's written and signed confession into evidence against him at trial constituted a denial of due process of law.
Shortly after arriving at the station at about 10 p.m., the petitioner was questioned for about one-half hour by Lieutenant Wakeley of the Spokane police, during which period he again orally admitted the crime. He was then placed in a line-up and identified by witnesses as one of the robbers. Apparently nothing else was done that night.
Cockburn. He once more orally admitted the robbery, and a written confession was transcribed. Shortly thereafter, he was taken to the office of the deputy prosecutor, where still another statement was taken and transcribed. Though Haynes refused to sign this second confession, he then did sign the earlier statement given to Detectives Peck and Cockburn. [Footnote 4] Later that same afternoon, he was taken before a magistrate for a preliminary hearing; this was at about 4 p.m. on December 20, the day after his arrest.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Haynes was transferred to the county jail, and, on either the following Tuesday or Thursday, was returned to the deputy prosecutor's office. He was again asked to sign the second statement which he had given there some four to six days earlier, but again refused to do so.
for ultimate determination by the jury. In overruling the petitioner's objection to use of the confession, the trial judge, however, made an apparently preliminary determination that it was voluntary, and "conditionally" admissible. See 58 Wash.2d at 719-720, 364 P.2d at 937. The evidence going to voluntariness was heard before the jury, and the issue submitted to it. The jury returned a general verdict of guilty, and was not required to, and did not, indicate its view with respect to the voluntariness of the confession.
The State first contends that the petitioner's version of the circumstances surrounding the making and signing of his written confession is evidentially contradicted, and thus should be rejected by this Court. We have carefully reviewed the entire record, however, and find that Haynes' account is uncontradicted in its essential elements.
"They kept wanting me to own up to robbing a Richfield Service Station, and I asked Mr. [Detective] Pike several times if I could call a lawyer, and he said, if I cooperated and gave him a statement . . . , that I would be allowed to call, to make a phone call. . . ."
he told the petitioner that his wife would be notified. [Footnote 6] Defense counsel, however, pursued the point and, only a moment later, Wakeley testified that Haynes "may have" asked permission to call his wife himself; Wakeley said he didn't "remember exactly whether he asked, or whether we wouldn't notify his wife." Wakeley then testified that he simply didn't "remember" whether Haynes asked to call his wife so that she might secure a lawyer for him; in addition, the lieutenant admitted that the petitioner might have asked to call his wife after the interrogation was completed. Detective Pike, also testifying at trial, said simply that he had not talked to Haynes on the evening of the arrest.
"Q. . . . [S]tate whether or not the officers at that time asked you to give them a statement."
"Q. And what was your answer to that?"
"A. I wanted to call my wife."
"Q. And were you allowed to call your wife?"
"Q. . . . This was on Friday?"
"Q. And was anything else said with respect to making a telephone call?"
"A. Mr. Pike [sic] and the other officer both told me that, when I had made a statement and cooperated with them, that they would see to it that, as soon as I got booked, I could call my wife."
"Q. Well, that was the night before you were told that, wasn't it?"
"A. I was told that the next day too, several times."
"Q. Who were the officers that were with you?"
"A. Oh, not Mr. Pike. Mr. Cockburn and Mr. Peck, I believe."
"Q. In any event, Mr. Haynes, did you soon after that give them a statement?"
"Q. Did you give them a statement?"
The transcribed statement itself discloses that, early in the interrogation, Haynes asked whether he might at least talk to the prosecutor before proceeding further. He was told: "We just want to get this down for our records, and then we will go to the prosecutor's office and he will ask the same questions that I am."
Haynes was advised by authorities of his right to remain silent, warned that his answers might be used against him, or told of his rights respecting consultation with an attorney.
"all the promises of all the officers I had talked to had not been fulfilled, and I had not been able to call my wife, and I would sign nothing under any conditions until I was allowed to call my wife to see about legal counsel."
during or after this second interview with the prosecutor on the Tuesday or Thursday -- Haynes could not be quite certain -- but, in any event, some five or seven days after his arrest, that he was first allowed to call his wife.
"Q. Have we made you any threats or promises?"
"Q. Has [sic] any police officers made you any promises or threats?"
"A. No -- except that the Lieutenant promised me that, as soon as I was booked, that I could call my wife."
"Q. You are being held for investigation -- you haven't been booked yet. When you are, you will be able to phone your wife."
The State argues that the quoted answers to the first two of these questions conclusively negative existence of coercion or inducement on the part of the police. The statement bears no such reading, however. The questions, on their face, disclose that the petitioner was told that "booking" was a prerequisite to calling his wife, and "booking" must mean booking on a charge of robbery. Since the police already had enough evidence to warrant charging the petitioner with the robbery -- they had the petitioner's prior oral admissions, the circumstances surrounding his arrest, and his identification by witnesses -- the only fair inference to be drawn under all the circumstances is that he would not be booked on the robbery charge until the police had secured the additional evidence they desired, the signed statement for which they were pressing. The quoted portions of the signed confession thus support the petitioner's version of events; under any view, they offer no viable or reliable contradiction.
in the challenged confession that it was not involuntarily induced. Cf. Haley v. Ohio, 332 U. S. 596, 332 U. S. 601 (opinion of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS). It would be anomalous indeed if such a statement, contained within the very document asserted to have been obtained by use of impermissible coercive pressures, was itself enough to create an evidentiary conflict precluding this Court's effective review of the constitutional issue. Common sense dictates the conclusion that, if the authorities were successful in compelling the totally incriminating confession of guilt, the very issue for determination, they would have little, if any, trouble securing the self-contained concession of voluntariness. Certainly we cannot accord any conclusive import to such an admission, particularly when, as here, it is immediately followed by recitations supporting the petitioner's version of events.
The uncontroverted portions of the record thus disclose that the petitioner's written confession was obtained in an atmosphere of substantial coercion and inducement created by statements and actions of state authorities. We have only recently held again that a confession obtained by police through the use of threats is violative of due process, and that "the question in each case is whether the defendant's will was overborne at the time he confessed," Lynumn v. Illinois, 372 U. S. 528, 372 U. S. 534.
"In short, the true test of admissibility is that the confession is made freely, voluntarily, and without compulsion or inducement of any sort."
Wilson v. United States, 162 U. S. 613, 162 U. S. 623. See also Bram v. United States, 168 U. S. 532. And, of course, whether the confession was obtained by coercion or improper inducement can be determined only by an examination of all of the attendant circumstances. See, e.g., 347 U. S. S. 514Á v. Denno,@ 347 U. S. 556, 347 U. S. 558. [Footnote 10] Haynes' undisputed testimony as to the making and signing of the challenged confession used against him at trial permits no doubt that it was obtained under a totality of circumstances evidencing an involuntary written admission of guilt.
Here, as in Lynumn, supra, the petitioner was alone in the hands of the police, with no one to advise or aid him, and he had "no reason not to believe that the police had ample power to carry out their threats," 372 U.S. at 372 U. S. 534, to continue, for a much longer period if need be, the incommunicado detention -- as in fact was actually done. Neither the petitioner's prior contacts with the authorities nor the fact that he previously had made incriminating oral admissions negatives the existence and effectiveness of the coercive tactics used in securing the written confession introduced at trial. The petitioner at first resisted making a written statement, and gave in only after consistent denials of his requests to call his wife and the conditioning of such outside contact upon his accession to police demands. Confronted with the express threat of continued incommunicado detention, and induced by the promise of communication with and access to family, Haynes understandably chose to make and sign the damning written statement; given the unfair and inherently coercive context in which made, that choice cannot be said to be the voluntary product of a free and unconstrained will, as required by the Fourteenth Amendment.
and arduous task requiring determination and persistence on the part of all responsible officers charged with the duty of law enforcement. And certainly we do not mean to suggest that all interrogation of witnesses and suspects is impermissible. Such questioning is undoubtedly an essential tool in effective law enforcement. The line between proper and permissible police conduct and techniques and methods offensive to due process is, at best, a difficult one to draw, particularly in cases such as this, where it is necessary to make fine judgments as to the effect of psychologically coercive pressures and inducements on the mind and will of an accused. But we cannot escape the demands of judging or of making the difficult appraisals inherent in determining whether constitutional rights have been violated. We are here impelled to the conclusion, from all of the facts presented, that the bounds of due process have been exceeded.
"completely bound by state court determination of any issue essential to decision of a claim of federal right, else federal law could be frustrated by distorted factfinding."
"when, as in this case, the question is properly raised as to whether a defendant has been denied the due process of law . . . , we cannot be precluded by the verdict of a jury from determining whether the circumstances under which the confession was made were such that its admission in evidence amounts to a denial of due process."
To the same effect, see, e.g., Spano v. New York, 360 U. S. 315; Thomas v. Arizona, 356 U. S. 390, 356 U. S. 393; Payne v. Arkansas, 356 U. S. 560, 356 U. S. 562, 356 U. S. 568; Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U. S. 143, 322 U. S. 147-148; Lisenba v. California, 314 U. S. 219, 314 U. S. 237-238; Chambers v. Florida, 309 U. S. 227, 309 U. S. 228.
there was sufficient other evidence to sustain the verdict, the jury may have found the defendant guilty even though it rejected the confession as involuntary; alternatively, the jury may have based its finding of guilt on the confession, reasoning, under the questionable instructions and the Washington statute, that the confession was admissible as voluntary, even though improperly induced, because it was corroborated by the other evidence. Although, for the reasons indicated, the Washington statute and the quoted instructions raise a serious and substantial question whether a proper constitutional standard was applied by the jury, we need not rely on the imperfections in the instructions as a separate ground of reversal. We think it clear, however, that these imperfections are entirely sufficient to preclude any dependence we might otherwise place on the jury verdict as settling the issue of voluntariness here.
constitutional infirmity, which the State is at liberty to order.
Official overzealousness of the type which vitiates the petitioner's conviction below has only deleterious effects. Here, it has put the State to the substantial additional expense of prosecuting the case through the appellate courts, and now will require even a greater expenditure in the event of retrial, as is likely. But it is the deprivation of the protected rights themselves which is fundamental and the most regrettable, not only because of the effect on the individual defendant, but because of the effect on our system of law and justice. Whether there is involved the brutal "third degree," or the more subtle, but no less offensive, methods here obtaining, official misconduct cannot but breed disrespect for law, as well as for those charged with its enforcement.
The judgment below is vacated, and the case is remanded to the Supreme Court of Washington for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith.
Apparently recognizing the questionable nature of such a practice, the Spokane police, we are told, have since abandoned use of the "small book" and the attendant restrictive practices.
The written confession appears to indicate on its face that it was signed shortly before 2 p.m. on December 20, about 16 1/4 hours after Haynes was arrested. The State asserts in its brief, however, that the total time of detention prior to signing of the confession was "17 to 19" hours. We assume, for purposes here, that the 16-hour period is sufficiently accurate.
Washington has since revised its rules of practice to provide for a preliminary hearing by the trial court, out of the presence of the jury, on the issue of voluntariness of a confession. See 58 Wash.2d at 720, 364 P.2d at 937, and Rules of Pleading, Practice and Procedure, Wash.Rev.Code, Rule 101.20W, Vol. O, as amended, effective January 2, 1961.
There is no indication that she was actually so notified. In fact, the petitioner's wife telephoned police at about noon on the day following the robbery, but was refused any information beyond the fact that her husband was being held. Though she identified herself and asked specifically why her husband was in jail, she was told simply "to get the morning paper and read it."
The petitioner's incommunicado detention was in contravention of an explicit Washington statute, Wash.Rev.Code, § 9.33.020(5), which prohibits and makes it a misdemeanor for police to "refuse permission to [an] . . . arrested person to communicate with his friends or with an attorney" when the refusal has as its purpose the obtaining of a confession.
"were rather concerned primarily with securing a statement from defendant on which they could convict him. The undeviating intent of the officers to extract a confession from petitioner is therefore patent. When such an intent is shown, this Court has held that the confession obtained must be examined with the most careful scrutiny. . . ."
Spano v. New York, 360 U. S. 315, 360 U. S. 324.
Though the deputy prosecutor himself appeared as a witness for the State at the trial, his testimony was in no way directed to this statement made in his office or the attendant circumstances, and he was not recalled to the stand after Haynes testified so that he might controvert the petitioner's version of events.
See also Fikes v. Alabama, 352 U. S. 191, 352 U. S. 197-198; Gallagos v. Nebraska, 342 U. S. 55, 342 U. S. 65 (opinion of Mr. Justice Reed).
"And, in this connection, I further instruct you that a confession or admission of a defendant is not rendered involuntary because he is not at the time of making the same reminded that he was under arrest, or that he was not obliged to reply, or that his answers would be used against him, or that he was entitled to be represented by counsel."
"By statute of the State of Washington, it is provided:"
MR. JUSTICE CLARK, with whom MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, MR. JUSTICE STEWART, and MR. JUSTICE WHITE join, dissenting.
that didn't seem to have any customers, and they didn't know the streets, didn't know the town very well. They said they were out where they found the car. They drove by and saw a service station which didn't seem to have any business, so they parked the car in the alley and walked into the service station, and Raymond said that he told the man it was a holdup, and his brother stood behind the man, and he got the money from the service station operator. He didn't think his brother got any of it. After they held up the place, they ran out the door and he ran down the side street, not directly toward the car, down around toward the end of the block and come [sic] back down the alley, and, as he was approaching the car, he saw a police officer had his brother in custody. So he turned and ran north about two blocks, and then turned and went west about three blocks before a prowl car came along and they stopped and talked to him and asked him where he was going. He said he was going home, and he turned and walked up onto a porch. He stood on the porch, and he said the prowl car sat out there in the street, didn't move, so he thought well, I might as well give up. So he went back and told them he was the man they were looking for."
Thus, within an hour and 20 minutes after his surrender, petitioner had made two oral confessions -- both admitted into evidence without objection -- identical in relevant details to the written confession made the following day which the Court finds coerced. In light of the circumstances surrounding petitioner's arrest and confession, I believe the Court's reversal to be an abrupt departure from the rule laid down in the cases of this Court and an enlargement of the requirements heretofore visited upon state courts in confession cases. I therefore dissent.
The petitioner is neither youthful in age (though his exact age is not shown by the record) nor lacking in experience in lawbreaking. He is married, and was a skilled sheet-metal worker temporarily unemployed. Some indication of his approximate age is given by the facts that his wife had been employed for some 14 years by the same employer, and that, 11 years prior to the trial, he had his first brush with the law, i.e., drunken driving, resisting arrest, and being without a driver's license. Further, in 1949, he was convicted of breaking and entering, and, in 1950, of robbery. During the same year, he pleaded guilty to breaking jail and to "taking a car." He had not only served time, but had been on parole for two years, making regular visits to parole officers to whom he was assigned. He cannot, therefore, be placed in the category of those types of people with whom the Court's cases in this area have ordinarily dealt, such as the mentally subnormal accused, Fikes v. Alabama, 352 U. S. 191 (1957); Payne v. Arkansas, 356 U. S. 560 (1958), and Reck v. Pate, 367 U. S. 433 (1961); the youthful offender, such as Haley v. Ohio, 332 U. S. 596 (1948), and Gallegos v. Colorado, 370 U. S. 49 (1962); or the naive and impressionable defendant, such as Lynumn v. Illinois, 372 U. S. 528 (1963). On the contrary, he is a mature adult who appears, from his testimony at the trial, to be of at least average intelligence, and who is neither a stranger to police techniques and custodial procedures nor unaware of his rights on arrest. Thus the Court's reliance on Lynumn v. Illinois, supra, [Footnote 2/1] is completely misplaced.
I do not say that only the young, the weak and the mentally disturbed are susceptible to coercion, but only that these factors have ordinarily been involved in coerced confession cases, and have been consistently regarded by the Court as important circumstances in the determination as to whether a confession was voluntarily made. Along with circumstances related to the petitioner, of course, the determination of coercion requires examination of the conduct of the police and the environment in which interrogation and confession occurred. We have long recognized that coercion need not be based upon the physical torture involved in Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U. S. 278 (1936). But here there is no contention by the petitioner either of physical abuse or of the more sophisticated techniques associated with police coercive practices. There was no extended or repeated interrogation, [Footnote 2/2] no deprivation of sleep or food, [Footnote 2/3] no use of psychiatric techniques. [Footnote 2/4] Further, there were no external circumstances, such as threat of mob violence, [Footnote 2/5] furnishing an atmosphere tending to subvert petitioner's rationality and free will.
determination on the undisputed facts." Malinski v. New York, 324 U. S. 401, 324 U. S. 404 (1945), citing Lisenba v. California, 314 U. S. 219 (1941), and Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U. S. 143 (1944). We have held that the fact that one has been denied consultation with an attorney, Cicenia v. Lagay, 357 U. S. 504 (1958), Crooker v. California, 357 U. S. 433 (1958), was not in itself controlling in such cases. Further, not even the fact that one is "held incommunicado, is subjected to questioning by officers for long periods, and deprived of the advice of counsel," without a showing that he had "so lost his freedom of action" that the confession was not his own, requires a reversal under the Fourteenth Amendment. Lisenba v. California, supra, at 314 U. S. 240-241. Finally, the fact that police officers violated state statutes in their treatment of the petitioner does "not furnish an answer" to the question whether a confession was voluntarily made. Id. at 314 U. S. 235; see Gallegos v. Nebraska, 342 U. S. 55 (1951).
The Court concludes, then, that the police, by holding petitioner incommunicado and telling him that he could call his wife after he made a statement and was booked, wrung from him a confession he would not otherwise have made, a confession which was not the product of a free will. In Crooker v. California, supra, at 357 U. S. 436, however, we found no coercion or inducement despite the fact that the petitioner's repeated requests for an attorney were denied and he "was told that, after [the] investigation was concluded, he could call an attorney.'"
"had no previous experience with the criminal law, and had no reason not to believe that the police had ample power to carry out their threats."
Id. at 372 U. S. 534. She confessed after the police told her that, if she did not cooperate, she would be imprisoned for 10 years, her children would be taken away, and she would be deprived of state aid for them.
See Spano v. New York, 360 U. S. 315 (1959); Ward v. Texas, 316 U. S. 547 (1942); Chambers v. Florida, 309 U. S. 227 (1940).
See Reck v. Pate, 367 U. S. 433 (1961); Payne v. Arkansas, 356 U. S. 560 (1958).
See Leyra v. Denno, 347 U. S. 556 (1954); cf. Malinski v. New York, 324 U. S. 401 (1945).
"Q. Did Raymond Haynes at any time during that conversation [when he was interrogated] ask permission to make a telephone call to his wife?"
"A. Not during the conversation."
"Q. Well at any time that night?"
"A. He might have asked afterward, after I got through talking to him. He wanted to know if his wife would be notified. I told him we would notify her that he was being held."
"Q. Did he ask permission to make a phone call himself to his wife?"
"A. He may have. I don't remember exactly whether he asked or whether we wouldn't notify his wife."
"Q. Did he say anything to you, Lieutenant Wakeley, if you remember, in substance, that he wanted to call his wife so that she could get a lawyer?"
"A. No, I don't remember that."

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