William O. Douglas

“ In reviewing a state criminal conviction we must be deeply mindful of the responsibilities of the States for the enforcement of criminal laws, and exercise with due humility our merely negative function in subjecting convictions from state courts to the very narrow scrutiny which the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment authorizes. ”

“ In no other way can the effects of the coercion be wholly excluded from the trial. In no other way can one who has been subjected to use of force or coercive 'psychology' be put upon an equal plane for the determination of his guilt or innocence with others who have escaped such unlawful action or be put back in the position he is entitled by law to occupy until his trial and a verdict of guilty, that of a man presumed to be innocent until the contrary is proved by legal means beyond a reasonable doubt. ”

“ The jury at no time was admonished that it could not convict on the basis of the first confession nor consider it as evidence against Malinski. We must consider the case, therefore, as one in which a coerced confession was employed to obtain a conviction. Coerced confessions would find a way of corrupting the trial if we sanctioned the use made of the October 23rd confession in this case. Constitutional rights may suffer as much from subtle intrusions as from direct disregard.
It is thus apparent that the judgment before us rests in part on a confession obtained as a result of coercion. ”

“ Others, like the freedom of the press or the free exercise of religion or freedom from condemnation without a fair trial, express rights the denial of which is repugnant to the conscience of a free people. ”

“ To say that in such circumstances the coercive influences had ended before they produced the result at which the entire procedure was aimed and with which it stopped, is, in my opinion, a conclusion we cannot draw and the facts allow no room for permitting a jury to make such an inference.
Were the question wholly fresh, the conclusion would seem doubtful in any case that a later confession could be entirely voluntary and uncoerced, where an earlier one had been compelled. A man once broken in will does not readily, if ever, recover from the breaking. ”

“ Under our form of government the machinery of criminal justice depends for its force and efficiency upon the enlightened moral sense of the individuals to whom the public by their constitution and laws have temporarily entrusted its operation. ”

“ The jury were plainly instructed that the confession was admitted against Malinski alone and that they were not to speculate concerning the identity of 'X' or 'Y'. When it came to the charge, the trial court submitted the case against Rudish separately from the one against Malinski. [7] The Court of Appeals in sustaining the judgment against Rudish in no respect relied on any confession to the police which Malinski made. And when it turned to the comments of the prosecutor, which we have quoted, it noted that they concerned Malinski not Rudish. ”

“ That was quite proper police procedure. That is some more psychology-let him sit around with a blanket on him, humiliate him there for a while; let him sit in the corner, let him think he is going to get a shellacking.'
If we take the prosecutor at his word, the confession of October 23rd was the product of fear-one on which we could not permit a person to stand convicted for a crime. ”

“ He spoke of Malinski as a 'jerk from the East Side' and referred to his residence in 'the lower east side of Manhattan, where your life is not worth a pretzel.' This is a characterization of a territory containing a large proportion of Americans of like origin.
Those clothed with authority in court rooms of this nation have the duty to conduct and supervise proceedings so that an accused person may be adjudged solely according to the dictates of justice and reason. ”

“ The questioning continued at frequent intervals each day and each night. [21] Spielfogel [22] continued to see him daily. No one else except his imprisoners was allowed to see him at any time. That he did not ask again to see counsel or others is but evidence that he had been 'broken.' He and Spielfogel were taken to the scene of the crime and to the police garage to identify the automobile used in the crime. These two incidents, I think, show conclusively that the coercion continued after, and did not abate with, the first confession. ”

“ We have not mentioned Rudish. He did not confess to the police. He was tried jointly with Malinski, his counsel electing not to ask for a severance. We are asked to reverse as to Rudish because the confession of October 27th which was introduced in evidence against Malinski was prejudicial to Rudish. It is argued that that course is indicated by Anderson v. United States, 318 U.S. 350, 63 S.Ct. 599, 87 L.Ed. 829. In that case we reversed a judgment of conviction against all the defendants though the confessions which had been introduced were the confession of only some of them. ”

“ On the other hand, in the discharge of that duty we must give no ear to the loose talk about society being 'at war with the criminal' if by that it is implied that the decencies of procedure which have been enshrined in the Constitution must not be too fastidiously insisted upon in the case of wicked people. ”

“ Justice Murphy, dissenting in Lyons v. Oklahoma, 322 U.S. 596, 606, 64 S.Ct. 1208, 1214, 88 L.Ed. 1481. No change in circumstances can wholly wipe out its effects upon himself or upon others. Thereafter he acts with knowledge that the damage has been done. Others do likewise. He is suspect by his own mouth and must continue so, whether he repudiates or confirms the confession. If he repudiates, he incurs the additional suspicion of lying, and his credibility as a witness in his own behalf is impaired, if not destroyed. ”

“ There could be no valid basis for admitting this confession against Rudish in a separate trial. Due process does not permit one to be convicted upon his own coerced confession. It should not allow him to be convicted upon a confession wrung from another by coercion. [25] A conviction supported only by such a confession could be but a variation of trial by ordeal. ”

“ Otherwise we might as well discard all pretense to a civilized and humane system of criminal justice and adopt without further ado the terroristic police practices of certain past and present tyrannies in other parts of the world. ”

“ Since all the confessions here were made in a continuing background of threatened coercion, it follows that they all were void.
One other matter is worthy of comment. Malinski, as well as his co-defendant Rudish, is an American of Jewish ancestry. The prosecutor made certain remarks in his statement to the jury that may have been intended and were indicative of a desire to appeal to racial and religious bigotry. ”

“ If you should find that the arraignment of the defendant was delayed, you may consider that on the question of the voluntariness of any confession made by Malinsky, including the one made in the early hours of October 27th at the Bath Beach station house.
'However, I am charging you that the failure to arraign, in and of itself, is not conclusive against the People, and does not in and of itself standing alone, destroy the validity of the confession. Is that clear? ”

“ They alone are enough to cast grave doubts upon the validity of the entire proceedings.
Mr. Chief Justice STONE.
Mr. Justice ROBERTS, Mr. Justice REED, Mr. Justice JACKSON and I think the judgment should be affirmed as to both petitioners.
Malinski, charged with murder, made several confessions of guilt, which were introduced in evidence at his trial. Two, made to the police, are alleged to have been coerced, the first on October 23rd and the other four days later on October 27th. During that time he admitted to the police other isolated facts which tended to fasten guilt upon him. ”