Spano v. New York

Spano v. New York
Supreme Court of United States (1959)

Petitioner/Defendant: Spano; the defendant was an Italian American. One night, while the defendant was at a bar, an ex-boxer took his money and when the defendant followed the ex-boxer, he was severely beaten by the boxer. Spano went to his house and got a gun and went to a candy store where the ex-boxer was and the defendant shot and killed the ex-boxer. The store employee saw this shooting. The defendant disappeared for one week and the grand jury charged the defendant for 1st degree murder. Then defendant called his friend, who was about to become a police officer, and the defendant told him that he is going to turn himself in. Defendant, with the help of an attorney, turned himself in and the attorney instructed the defendat not to say anything to the police officers. The officers interrogated the defendant for about 8-10 hours and they even used defendant's friend to get a conviction out of him. Finally the defendant gave in and confessed. The confession was used by trial court and defendant was sentenced to death.

Issue: Was the confession of the defendant voluntary?

Holding: No

Legal Reasoning: The court stated that the police had a witness to the crime and they had the defendant charged with 1st degree, so the only intent the officers had was to get a confession out of the defendant. The court further observed that the defendant was put through long hours of interrogation and his friend was used by the officers to get the confession out of him. So the court ruled that the defendant "was overborne by official pressure, fatigue and sympathy falsely aroused" which makes his confession not voluntary. The conviction was reversed.

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