Ashcraft v. Tennessee: Supreme Court Ruling on Coerced Confessions

Background of the Case

In 1944, Leo Ashcraft and his wife, Ruble, were convicted of murder and accessory to murder, respectively, in Tennessee. The convictions were based on alleged confessions obtained after 36 hours of police interrogation without rest.

Supreme Court Ruling

The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1946 (Ashcraft v. Tennessee) that the confessions had been obtained under coercion and were therefore inadmissible in court. The Court held that the long duration of the interrogation, combined with the lack of rest, deprived the defendants of their due process rights.

Significance of the Ruling

Ashcraft v. Tennessee established an important precedent regarding the use of confessions in criminal cases. It set a limit on the length of police interrogations and the conditions under which they can be conducted. This ruling has helped protect individuals from being coerced into providing false or inaccurate confessions.