US Supreme Court Docket

Title:

Corley v. United States

Subject:

Criminal Law and Procedure, Criminal Confessions, 18 U.S.C. section 3501

Question:

Whether 18 U.S.C. § 3501 — read together with Fed. R. Crim. P. Rule 5(a),
McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332 (1943), and Mallory v. United States, 354
U.S. 449 (1957) — requires that a confession taken more than six hours after arrest and before presentment be
suppressed if there was unreasonable or unnecessary delay in bringing the
defendant before the magistrate judge.

Several United States Courts of Appeals have addressed this issue and have
issued conflicting decisions, and the panel in this case was split two to one on the
issue.

This Court granted certiorari to consider the issue in United States v. Alvarez-
Sanchez, 511 U.S. 350 (1994), but then resolved the case on a separate
“threshold” ground and expressly left open “the subtle questions of statutory
construction concerning the safe harbor set out in § 3501(c).” Id. at 356.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 3rd Circuit, Opinion Filed: August 31, 2007

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.

Coming Soon

David L. McColgin
Defender Association of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA

Elena Kagan
Solicitor General
United States Department of Justice
Washington, DC

 

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