United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Ziang Sung Wan v. United States, 266 U.S. 1 (1924)

Ziang Sung Wan v. United States

No. 127

Argued April 7, 8, 1924

Decided October 13, 1924

266 U.S. 1

Syllabus

1. A bill of exceptions in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, held properly settled by the Chief Justice of that court where filed in due time but after the death of the justice who presided at the trial. P. 266 U. S. 9.

2. A confession of guilt is voluntary in law if, and only if, it was in fact voluntarily made. P. 266 U. S. 14.

3. In the federal courts, the requisite of voluntariness is not satisfied by establishing merely that the confession was not induced by a promise or threat. Id.

4. A confession may have been given voluntarily although it was made to police officers while the maker was in custody, and in answer to an examination conducted by them. Id.

5. But a confession obtained by compulsion must be excluded whatever may have been the character of the compulsion, and whether the compulsion was applied in a judicial proceeding or otherwise. Id.

6. Where the undisputed facts show that oral statements and a written confession, offered in evidence against a defendant charged with murder, were obtained through compulsion applied by police officers, they should be excluded from the jury. P. 266 U. S. 15.

289 F.9d 8, 53 App.D.C. 250, reversed.

Page 266 U. S. 2

Certiorari to a judgment of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, affirming a sentence for murder.

Page 266 U. S. 8