FRAZIER v. CUPP, WARDEN, 394 U.S. 731

Summary

The prisoner was indicted jointly with his cousin who pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and found that none of the prisoner's allegations were sufficient to warrant reversal. Even though the prosecutor made references to the cousin's expected testimony in his opening statement, which was followed by the cousin's assertion of his privilege against self-incrimination, such references were not found to be a prosecutorial misconduct nor a deprivation of the right of confrontation. Under the totality of the circumstances standard, the prisoner's confession was a voluntary confession and was thus admissible because: (1) he received partial warnings of his constitutional rights before he made any incriminating statements, (2) the questioning was of short duration, and he was a mature individual of normal intelligence, and (3) while the police officer's misrepresentation of the cousin's statement was relevant, it was insufficient to make such ...