United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Mitchell, 322 U.S. 65 (1944)

United States v. Mitchell

Nos. 514 and 515

Argued March 27, 1944

Decided April 24, 1944

322 U.S. 65

Syllabus

1. Promptly and spontaneously after a housebreaking suspect had been taken into custody by police officers and had arrived at the police station, he admitted his guilt and consented to the officers' recovering stolen property from his home. Held that the admission of guilt and the property thus recovered were admissible in evidence in a criminal prosecution in a federal court, and that the admissibility of the evidence was not affected by the subsequent illegal detention of the suspect for eight days before arraignment. McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332, distinguished. P. 322 U. S. 69.

2. The power of this Court to establish rules governing the admissibility of evidence in the federal courts is not to be used to discipline law enforcement officers. P. 322 U. S. 70.

138 F.2d 426 reversed.

Certiorari, 321 U.S. 756, to review reversals, in two cases, of convictions of housebreaking and larceny.