United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Lee v. Mississippi, 332 U.S. 742 (1948)

Lee v. Mississippi

No. 91

Argued November 21, 1947

Decided January 19, 1948

332 U.S. 742

Syllabus

1. A defendant in a criminal prosecution in a state court who testified that he had not in fact confessed is not thereby precluded from raising the issue that an alleged confession offered as evidence was coerced and that a conviction obtained by the use thereof denied him due process of law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Pp. 332 U. S. 742-746.

2. The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment invalidates a state court conviction grounded in whole or in part upon a confession which is the product of other than reasoned and voluntary choice. P. 332 U. S. 745.

3. Foreclosing the right to complain of the use of an allegedly coerced confession because of inconsistent testimony as to the confession would itself be a denial of due process of law. Pp. 332 U. S. 745-746.

201 Miss. 423, 30 So.2d 74, reversed.

Petitioner's conviction in a criminal prosecution in a state court, claimed to have denied his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, was affirmed by the State Supreme Court. 201 Miss. 423, 30 So.2d 74. This Court granted certiorari. 331 U.S. 795. Reversed, p. 332 U. S. 746.