Thurgood Marshall

“ Here, law enforcement officials isolated petitioner from the outside world and made unmistakably clear that his incommunicado detention would end only with his confession. Cf. Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 514, 83 S.Ct. 1336, 1343-1344, 10 L.Ed.2d 513 (1963) ("We cannot blind ourselves to what experience unmistakably teaches: that even apart from the express threat, the basic techniques present here-the secret and incommunicado detention and interrogation-are devices adapted and used to extort confessions from suspects") . ”

“ Police questioned petitioner Ray Charles Degraffenreid shortly after the murder, but he was not then charged. In 1977, Degraffenreid was arrested for Killian's murder while incarcerated in state prison on an unrelated conviction. Five days later, he confessed to law enforcement officials. At Degraffenreid's first trial, the state court granted his motion to suppress his confession as involuntary, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict. At Degraffenreid's retrial, a different judge admitted the confession. Degraffenreid was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. ”

“ In this case, the Court of Appeals focused solely on the second inquiry and failed to decide whether, as a matter of due process, the police efforts in this case were impermissibly inquisitorial. This analysis is essential because some police techniques, whether or not they actually overbear a defendant's will, are repugnant to our adversarial system and cannot lay the foundation for a criminal conviction. ”