Heart of Dixie · Death in Dixie
The Grocery Store Tip
Taylor v. Alabama (1982)
Charge: Robbery - holdup of a Montgomery grocery store, solved through a confessionCourt: Supreme Court of the United States (on review of the Alabama state courts)Docket: Death in Dixie
Did Miranda warnings and the passage of time make a confession usable despite an illegal arrest?
The facts
After a robbery at a grocery store in Montgomery, Alabama, police arrested a man without a warrant on January 4, 1979, based only on an uncorroborated tip from a jailed informant. At the station he was fingerprinted, given Miranda warnings, questioned and put in a lineup where the victims could not identify him. Officers told him his fingerprints matched items handled at the robbery. After a five-to-ten-minute visit with his girlfriend and a neighbour, he signed a confession about six hours after his arrest. The confession was admitted and he was convicted.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Taylor v. Alabama, Taylor v. Alabama, 457 U.S. 687 (1982)
Read more at supreme.justia.com. The source reveals the outcome.