Stanley Forman Reed

“ I do not agree that we should now extend the McNabb rule by saying that every confession obtained by police after unnecessary delay in arraignment for committment and before magisterial commitment must be barred from the trial. Those most concerned with a proper administration of the criminal law are against any extension. ”

“ For the foregoing reasons, I conclude that detention alone, even for the purpose of obtaining information, should not be sufficient to justify the exclusion of confession to police officers obtained after unnecessary delay and before commitment.
C. This brings me to a statement of the true rule of the McNabb case, as I understand it. This rule is that purposeful, unlawful detention illegally to extract evidence and the successful extraction of confessions under psychological pressure, other than mere detention for limited periods, makes confessions so obtained inadmissible. ”

“ The judicial approach to the problem, of course, must be in a spirit of cooperation with the police officials in the administration of justice. They are directly charged with the responsibility for the maintenance of law and order and are under the same obligation as the judicial arm to discharge their duties in a manner consistent with the Constitution and statutes. The prevention and punishment of crime is a difficult and dangerous task, for the most part performed by security and prosecuting personnel in a spirit of public service to the community. ”

“ Obviously there is a wide range of discretion as to how much psychological pressure is necessary. If any material amount is sufficient, the rule differs little from one denying admissibility if obtained during illegal restraint. If almost coercion is required, the rule will differ little from that excluding an involuntary confession. Under this interpretation of McNabb, I suppose, as in coerced confessions, it should be left to a jury to decide whether there was enough evidence of pressure where the admitted facts do not show improper pressure as a matter of law. ”

“ When, as in the McNabb case, there are confessions after failure to observe statutory directions not shown to have coerced the confessions the rule as to evidence extracted in defiance of the Constitution does not apply. [18]
This Court by decision has excluded evidence obtained by unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment or by coercion to a degree that violates the Fifth or the Fourteenth Amendments because the admission of such evidence would imperil the efficacy of those constitutional rights. ”

“ If there is a prevalent abuse of the right to question prisoners, the sounder remedy lies in police discipline, in statutory punishment of offending officials, in vigorous judicial protection against unconstitutional pressures for confessions, and in legislative enactments for inquiries into circumstances surrounding crimes by methods that protect both the public and suspects-for example, an inquiry before a magistrate with sealed evidence. ”

“ It takes this step in the belief that thereby it strengthens criminal administration by protecting a prisoner. A prisoner should have protection but it is well to remember that law and order is an essential prerequisite to the protection of the security of all. ”

“ The Mitchell explanation of McNabb seems correct. It is not the function of courts to provide penalties and sanctions for acts forbidden by statutes where neither statutes nor the common law nor equity procedure have established them.
For the above reasons, I reach the conclusion that the McNabb case was not intended as a penalty or sanction for violation of the commitment statute. ”

“ Otherwise the bad results from a change of well-established rules are quite likely to outweigh the good. The lack of any necessity for changing the rules of evidence to protect an accused led me to dissent in the McNabb case, a murder case where an assumed failure to commit the prisoner apparently was relied upon as a partial basis for denying admissibility to certain confessions. ”

“ I never called them damned liars, but I did say they were lying to me. * * * It would be impossible to tell all the motions I made with my hands during the two days of questioning, however, I didn't threaten anyone. None of the officers were prejudiced towards these defendants nor bitter toward them. We were only trying to find out who killed our fellow officer.'
'Benjamin McNabb, the third of the petitioners, came to the office of the Alcohol Tax Unit about eight or nine o'clock Friday morning and voluntarily surrendered. ”

“ They subjected the accused to the pressures of a procedure which is wholly incompatible with the vital but very restricted duties of the investigating and arresting officers of the Government and which tends to undermine the integrity of the criminal proceeding.' 318 U.S. at pages 341, 342, 63 S.Ct. at page 613, 87 L.Ed. 819. 'A democratic society, in which respect for the dignity of all men is central, naturally guards against the misuse of the law enforcement process. ”

“ Taylor was the Government's chief witness on the central issue of the admissibility of the statements made by the McNabbs. Arriving in Chattanooga early Thursday morning, he spent the day in study of the case before beginning his interrogation of the prisoners. Freeman, Raymond, and Emuil, who had been taken to the county jail about five o'clock Thursday afternoon, were brought back to the Federal Building early that evening. According to Taylor, his questioning of them began at nine o'clock. Other officers set the hour earlier. ”

“ People v. Goldblatt, 383 Ill. 176, 49 N.E.2d 36, 41; Royse, J., dissenting, in Scoopmire v. Taflinger, 114 Ind.App. 419, 52 N.E.2d 728, 733.↑ See also the statement of Hon. Francis Biddle, Attorney General, Hearings before Subcommittee No. 2 of the Committee of the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 78th Cong., 1st Sess., on H.R. 3690, p. 27.↑ E.g.: 'For in their treatment of the petitioners the arresting officers assumed functions which Congress has explicitly denied them. ”