Kaupp, Robert v. Texas

9-0 for Kaupp (Per curiam-May 5, 2003)

Brief: On May 5, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous per curiam opinion, without hearing oral arguments in the case, reversing the murder conviction of Robert Kaupp. The opinion criticized Texas police for tactics used to get the 17-year-old to confess to murder.

The opinion noted that police awoke Kaupp from bed in the middle of the night in January 1999, told him that he needed to go and talk, and then took him, dressed only in his underwear, to the scene of the crime.

In noting that police did not have an arrest warrant or probable cause to arrest Kaupp, the Court held that a confession "obtained by exploitaton of an illegal arrest" may not be used against someone.