United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940)

Chambers v. Florida

No.195

Argued January 4, 1940

Decided February 12, 1940

309 U.S. 227

Syllabus

1. Convictions of murder obtained in the state courts by use of coerced confessions are void under the clue process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 309 U. S. 228.

2. This Court is not concluded by the finding of a jury that a confession by one convicted in a state court of murder was voluntary, but determines that question for itself from the evidence. P. 309 U. S. 228.

3. Confessions of murder procured by repeated inquisitions of prisoners without friends or counselors present, and under circumstances calculated to inspire terror, held compulsory. Pp. 309 U. S. 238-241.

136 Fla. 568; 187 So. 156, reversed.

CERTIORARI, 308 U.S. 541, to review convictions of murder upon the question whether confessions used in the trial were in violation of due process of law.