WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that confessions obtained by federal authorities in a 2003 credit union robbery before the suspect's first court appearance may be inadmissible because more than six hours elapsed between an arrest and a court date.
The prisoner in the case, Johnnie Corley, was arrested on suspicion of being one of three suspects who robbed Norsco FCU of $48,000 on June 16, 2003. The FBI agents who arrested him did not take him to court for his initial appearance for 29-and-a-half hours, during which time they elicited a confession from Corley.
The court said in a 5-4 decision that long delays before a suspect sees a judge can give the government too much leverage over someone who has been arrested. "Federal agents would be free to question suspects for extended periods before bringing them out in the open, and we have always known what custodial secrecy leads to," Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion.
Under federal law and previous court decisions, confessions obtained within six hours of an arrest are presumed to be valid and may be used at trial. The question in Corley's case was what courts should do with confessions when there is a delay before the first court appearance.
Corley was convicted on bank robbery charges and sentenced to 170 months in prison in December 2004.
The Supreme Court set aside that ruling Monday and ordered lower courts to examine whether the confession was given during the first six hours after arrest. If it came later, Souter said, courts must throw out the confession if they find that the delay in taking the prisoner to court was "unreasonable or unnecessary."
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said confessions that are voluntarily given should be admitted into evidence regardless of the time that passes before a prisoner first goes to court.
Alito said concerns about coerced confessions have largely been dealt with by Miranda warnings, which officers give at the time of an arrest by informing suspects of their right not to answer questions and obtain a lawyer's help.
