Legal Terms and Historical Context

Procedural Posture

• Defendants challenged a Mississippi Supreme Court judgment affirming their murder convictions.
• Motions for arrest of judgment and new trial were denied by the state court.
• Allegations were made regarding the use of confessions obtained through physical brutality, violating the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment due process clause.

Year

• The case occurred in 1936.

Defendants’ Testimony

• During the trial, defendants claimed that their confessions were false and coerced through physical torture.

Admission of Wrongdoing

• A sheriff's deputy and two additional participants admitted to the allegations of coercion.

Conviction Outcome

• Defendants were convicted and sentenced to death despite their claims.

Supreme Court's Action

• The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions initially but later granted certiorari to review the case, ultimately reversing their judgment.

Limitations on State Freedom

• The court determined that the state's ability to regulate legal procedures is limited by due process requirements.
• Convictions obtained solely on confessions procured through violence are not permissible.

Denial of Due Process

• The use of coerced confessions was deemed a significant violation of due process, nullifying the convictions and sentences.

Counsel's Oversight

• The defendants' counsel failed to move for the exclusion of the coerced confessions.
• This oversight did not affect the reversal since the trial court was aware of the confessions' coerced nature.

Final Outcome

• The Supreme Court reversed the judgment that affirmed the defendants' murder convictions and death sentences.
• The court ruled that confessions obtained through physical torture violated the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause, rendering the convictions and sentences void.