The Questionable Confession

of the defendant following the first name. I've worked with the Shanghaiani speaker to get the pronunciations of names correct, but I apologize in advance for any errors in pronunciation, which are mine alone. With that, let's get started. Doctor Lee Gang was getting very worried about the occupants of twenty twenty three Calorama Road, a ten room row house in Washington, d c. Twenty twenty three was home to the Chinese at dad occasional mission. Three men, doctor Theodore Wang, Shia,

Cheng Shi, and U Bin Shin staffed the mission. Doctor Lee was used to seeing the three of them coming in and out of the mission, but he hadn't seen any of them in three days, and neither had anyone else. It was now Friday, January thirty first, nineteen nineteen, and Lee was growing increasingly worried. He lived across the street from the mission, and over the past three days he had seen mail pile up on the stone steps of the house. Not just mail, but milk bottles and newspapers

and laundry too. Why was no one picking up the mission's deliveries. Lee knew Wang and Shiah well, and he was sure they would have told him if they were leaving town by Friday evening. Lee couldn't contain his anxiety. He walked across the street and rang the bell. No one answered. He looked into the windows of the first floor living room, but could not see inside. Then he noticed that one of the windows was open, just a crack.

Lee considered his options. Breaking in seemed extreme, but something was not right here. He pushed up the bottom pane and wriggled inside. It was pitch black in the mission. Groping in the darkness, Lee made his way into the front hall, heart pounding, Lee flipped the wall switch and the hall flooded with light. Suddenly Lee could see everything, the dark wood paneling, the patterned rug, and lying atop the rug, a man's body, Lee ran to get help.

Soon the mission was swarming with officers, and what they found inside was horrifying. The body in the front hall belonged to forty three year old doctor Theodor Wang Wang, had been beaten about the head and shot twice. Furniture strewn about the first floor pointed towards a struggle. A blood trail led the officers from the front hall into

the basement. In the small basement kitchen, police found a bloody handkerchief and a revolver, which doctor Lee identified as belonging to Wu bin Chin, the mission's twenty two year old secretary. In the nearby furnace room, police found Wu dead. He had been shot once in the head and once in the heart. Wu lay with his head touching the head of thirty two year old Sia Changxi, the mission's treasurer. Tia too had been shot in the head. It was

a horrific and baffling crime. Who would have wanted to kill these men? Their work was not controversial. They helped supervise and support Chinese students studying in the United States. They were well regarded members of their community. The police wanted to solve this case quickly. Fortunately, doctor Lee was able to provide them with a lead. Two days earlier, on Wednesday, January twenty ninth, Lee had visited the mission. When he knocked, no one answered. He tried again. Finally

a man opened the door, but only a crack. He did not invite Lie in. This man was twenty three year old Who Jiangsung. Jiangsung, who knew both Wang and Who had been staying at the mission earlier in the week. But Lee thought Jiang Sung had returned to New York where he lived on Monday. What was he still doing at the mission on Wednesday? Jiangsung told Lie that no one else was in. Lee shrugged and decided to come back later. Once Lie told the police about this encounter,

the police became curious about Jiangsung. Detectives were dispatched to New York to question him, and when police learned that a Chinese man had tried to pass a forged check purported to be from the mission the morning after the murder, they thought they knew what had happened. Jiangsung was struggling financially, he must have tried to steal money from the mission. When his actions were discovered, he had killed the mission staff to cover up the crime. The police brought Jiangsung

back to Washington, d C. And questioned him. Eventually, he confessed. It seemed like an open and shutcase, but at Jiangsung's trial, his defense would claim that the police had coerced his confession. They alleged that the police had employed questionable tactics, denying Jiangsung food and sleep, among other things, to get him to break This wasn't the first high profile case with

a coerced confession. For years, the public had been concerned about the lengths the police would go to secure a conviction. At Jiangsung's trial, the question of what made an acceptable confession would come under scrutiny and change the nature of police work and the rights of suspects forever. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This week Jiangsung who VI United States. In nineteen oh nine, the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program funded its first group of students.

The program, created via a complicated financial negotiation between the Chinese and US governments in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion, sponsored Chinese students to study in America. More than twelve hundred Chinese students would take part in the program over its twenty six year existence. In nineteen eleven, the Chinese Educational Mission was founded to help administer the scholarship and to support and supervise the program students. Doctor Theodor Wang

was selected as the mission's first director. He was a natural choice. A member of a prominent Shanghai family, Wang had himself studied in America, graduating from the University of Virginia in eighteen ninety six. Xia Chang Shi soon came on as the organization's treasurer. Thirteen years younger than Wang, Shiah had experience with both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and

with Universe City administration. Shia and Wang moved to Washington, d C. In nineteen eleven to set up the mission operations. Four years later, Wang returned to China to reunite with his family. He had had to leave his wife, Julia and their seven children in Shanghai when he moved to the United States, and couldn't wait to see them again. He spent a year in China, but soon duty called and he returned to America in nineteen sixteen. Wang didn't

travel alone. Accompanying Wang on the voyage was U Bin Shing, a seventeen year old scholarship student, Wu, who spoke little English, came from a powerful family with government connections. While studying at George Washington University, Wu would also be serving as the mission's secretary. On the journey across the Pacific, Wu shared a state room with twenty year old Hu Jiangsung. Wang had known Jiangsung since he was a child. Both

families were part of the same episcopal church. Jiangsung, like Wu, would be studying in the United States. He was not a scholarship recipient. His wealthy mother was funding his education as part of a final attempt to get Jiang Sung to straighten his life out. Jiangsung's father had died young, leaving his mother with a large fortune and four children who she struggled to discipline. Jiangsung had grown up privileged, spoiled,

and aimless. Hoping that a change of scenery would inspire Jiangsung to get his act together, his mother suggested that he go study in America. She asked her friend Theodor Wang to keep an eye on her son. Upon arrival in the US in the spring of nineteen sixteen, Wang and U headed to Washington, d c. Jiangsung did not join them. He was going to Ohio to attend Ohio Northern University. His younger brother, Sang Ying, was also studying

in Ohio. Within a year, Jiangsung had completed his Bachelor of Arts degree, thanks in part to transfer credits from his school in Shanghai. In search of more excitement, he went east, landing in New York City. Sang In soon joined him. The brothers rented a furnished room in Morningside Heights and set about enjoying city life. Jungsung does not seem to have picked up more responsible habits during his year in college. He soon ran through the money his

mother sent him. He tried to run a movie theater, it quickly failed, and then took a job as a valet, but that job didn't last long either. At some point in nineteen eighteen, Jung Sung contracted the Spanish flu. Between nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen, the flu killed millions of people around the world. Jung Sung did not die, but he was profoundly ill, and the after effects of the flu with linger for months, leaving him weak and sickly.

By January nineteen nineteen, Jang Sung was in a very dark place. He had only forty one dollars in his checking account and no job to replenish the coffers with. He was sick and frequently confined to bed. Stressed, he drank heavily and argued with his brother. Jiangsung needed a change. Inspiration arrived in the form of a telegram Hubinchin, his shipmate on the voyage over, and the Chinese Education Mission secretary invited him to visit d C, who also sent

him fifty dollars in late January. Jiangsung decided to take U up on his offer. On January twenty second, he took a train to Washington. By that evening he was the Chinese Educational Mission's house in Caalorama, where the mission staff both lived and worked. Jiangsung was given the guest room on the first floor. But the Washington trip was not the peaceful respite that Jiangsung had hoped for. The mission staff were busy with work and did not have

the energy to tend to a sick house. Guest Wu helped care for Jiangsung at nights, but Jiangsung came to feel like a burden, and doctor Wang's paternalistic presence probably chafed. Two After five days, Jiangsung decided to leave. He did not head back to New York immediately, though Instead, he took a room at the Harris Hotel near the train station. He telegraphed his brother, asking Sung Ing to come take

care of him. Song Ing hurried south, arriving in the middle of the night on January twenty eighth, he found his older brother in rough shape. In addition to the fatigue from the flu, he was now suffering severe bowel pain. But Jiangsung also had some errands to run. On the evening of January twenty ninth, he went back to the mission. It was during this visit that doctor Li Gung knocked on the door and Jongsung told him that everyone else

was out. This turned out to be true. The mission staff were all attending dinners celebrating the Chinese New Year that evening. The next morning, Thursday, January thirtieth, Jung Sung and Sung En visited Riggs National Bank. Jiangsung stayed in the taxi while Sung In went in and attempted to deposit a five thousand dollars check. The check, made out from the account of the Chinese Educational Mission, was only addressed to quote bearer, not to any specific recipient. The

teller thought this was suspicious. He pulled up a previous check from the mission and compared Wang's signatures on each document. They didn't match. The teller alerted an assistant cashier, who attempted to reach the mission by phone. No one answered. Eventually, Sung Inn was told to return with Wang. Sang In did not do so. Instead, he and Joangsung went to Union Station and boarded a train for New York. The next evening, Lie Gung discovered the bodies in the mission.

There was no sign of forced entry or robbery, so the police suspected a more personal motive. After Lee told police about his strange interaction with Jiangsung on the twenty ninth, the police decided to investigate further. Washington Chief of Police Major Raymond Pullman sent to detective Sergeants Guy Burlingame and Edward Kelly to New York. The detectives arrived at Jiangsung and Song In's apartment at seven thirty a m. On February first. The Who brothers and the detectives would give

very different accounts of the interaction that followed. The detectives claimed that Jiangsung expressed no surprise at the news of the deaths. He asked many questions but seemed calm. Jiangsung told them he had left d C on January twenty seventh. In the brothers telling, things were much less amicable. They said that the detectives had entered their rooms with guns drawn and begun tearing the room apart searching for a gun. Jiangsung denied, ever, saying that he returned on the twenty seventh.

Both versions of this encounter end in similar ways, though with Jiangsung agreeing to accompany the detectives to d C to help answer questions. Jiangsun pulled together the toiletries and clothes necessary for a short trip. But this trip would not be short. Soon, Jiangsung would discover the police did not intend to let him go home. When the train carrying Jiangsung and the detectives arrived in Washington, dozens of

reporters and photographers lined up to meet them. Anticipating this, Chief Pullman had the group exit off the rear of the train, and then, instead of taking Jong Sung to the police station where more reporters were waiting, Pullman had him taken to the Board of Police Surgeon's health clinic. At the clinic, Pullman himself began the questioning, assisted by Chief of Detectives Clifford Grant. Jongsung did not admit to anything. Juan Sung was next asked to appear in front of

a group of employees from Riggs National Bank. Police hoped that the employees would i d Juangsung as the man who had tried to deposit the forged check, but the employees said that he was not the man they had seen. Tired and feeling ill, Jangsung asked to leave, but but the police, who had not formally arrested Jiangsung at this point, would not let him go. Instead, they took him to

the Dewey hotel. Why not to the police station. As historian Scott Seligman says in his book The Third Degree, the police quote intended to keep him in communicado for as long as they interrogated him. This way, no one, not reporters nor voyeurs, but also not any of his friends nor any attorneys could find out where he was. While Jang Sung sat cloistered in the hotel, the Washington

police were returning to New York. One of the bank employees had mentioned that the man who brought the check looked younger than Jiangsung, so the police were working on the theory that it had been twenty year old Song In who visited the bank. Early on Monday morning, Detective Kelly showed up at Sung Inn's door to get song In to accompany him back to Washington because the police had no grounds to formally arrest him at this point, Kelly lied, telling song In that Jiangsung was ill and

asking for his brother. Sang In quickly agreed to return with Kelly, but when the pair arrived in Washington, song In was not taken to Jiangsung. Instead, he was taken to the police clinic, where officers interrogated him and accused him of murder. They questioned him all night without giving him any food. Early the next morning, the police checked song In into the Dewey hotel. He did not know

that his brother was staying there as well. While sang In finally got some sleep, the police took his photo around to the bank. All the employees confirmed that this was indeed the man who had tried to cash the forged check. Police were now certain that they had their men. They believed that Jiangsung had forged the check and then killed the mission staff when they discovered his crime, but their case was circumstantial. To make it air tight, they

needed a confession. Over the night. Next five days, the police questioned Juangsung and song In incessantly, even interrupting their sleep to get more questions. In Per the brother's later accounts, the police did more than just question them. They also insulted them, using racist slurs and abusive language. They pinched and pushed the men. They refused to let them see each other. They did not allow Jiangsung, who was now

very ill, to get adequate rest. After five days of this, song In cracked he admitted that he had tried to cash the check. When detectives told Jiangsung what his brother had said, he was shocked and angry. The police thought that he might just be close to breaking two. His little brother was his weak spot. Jang Sung wanted to protect him. Maybe if detectives allowed them to see each other, Jung Sung would open up. The Next day, the police

took the brothers to the murder scene. When he saw his younger brother, Jung Sung excitedly shook some in his hand and asked after his well being. But this was not to be a long reunion. Soon the questioning started again. Pullman implied to jog Sung that song In was about to be arrested for the crime unless Jeong Sung did something to stop it. You know what you did, song In remembered Chief Pullman telling his brother, why don't you say something and let your brother go? Your little brother

has a good future. We just want you to say something and let him go out. When this emotional pressure did not work, the detectives increased the prisoner's discomfort. They denied them trips to the bathroom. They gave them no food. When Jangsung, increasingly ill, slumped in his chair, song In handed him a cushion, Detective Kelly took it away, saying, don't think you are home. You are in our power. You have got to do what we say. The questioning

continued all night. By five am, the detectives were exhausted and Jiangsung was on the verge of collapse. The detectives had to carry him out. Both brothers were taken to the tenth Precinct station house. There, Jiangsung was finally allowed to sleep. When he woke up that evening, the questioning began again. Inspector Grant told Jiangsung, quote, if you are guilty and your brother is innocent, now is the time to tell it. After nearly a week of mental and

physical suffering, Jiangsung could take it no more. He told detectives that he had been there when the killings happened, but it had not been him who shot the mission's staff. Oh Bin Shin had killed Theodore Wang and Shia Tchiangxi, he said, and then a businessman named c h Chen killed Whu. Xiang Sung, too tired to speak more, stopped there. He told officers he would tell them more the next day if they let him sleep. The next morning, Jiang

Sung laid out what happened. He and U Bin Chin had plotted to forge a check from the mission, but doctor Wang had discovered their plan and was going to alert the police. Whu told Jiangsung to come over to the mission on the evening of the twenty ninth to figure out what to do. But at the mission, who had lost his head, he had shot Wang and Siya. Jiangsung had been horrified and furious, so he not a businessman named Chen, as he had claimed the night before,

had shot Wu. Jiangsung said his brother had no idea about any of it. My brother is absolutely innocent, he told detectives. He had no part in the killing. He knew nothing of it. He was only my tool in attempting to pass the forged check. When the bank had not accepted the check. Jiangsung had abandoned the plan and headed for New York, throwing away the forged check in the train bathroom. Jiangsung was arrested murder. The police did not arrest Sung In immediately, but kept him in jail.

The two brothers were allowed to share a cell, and Thong In tended to his ailing older brother. Jiangsung signed a type statement of his confession. He told Inspector Grant, I'm glad this is off my mind. Doctor Wang was my friend and my mother in Shanghai had entrusted him to care for me in this country. I never wanted him killed, so I killed U for what he had done. I'm glad it is all over. You now have the whole truth. I am not going to fight the case

you built against me. I want no lawyer. I know what I have done, and I will take my medicine as you Americans say. But just one day later, Jiang Sung changed his mind. Now he wanted to fight. What had happened to cause this change the coroner's inquest, which took place on February tenth and eleventh. The jury there concluded that both Jiangsung and Sung In were responsible for the murders. Jogsung was horrified. I must have a lawyer now, he said, because they do not believe what I tell them.

I have told them the truth that my brother might not suffer. Now they are going to punish him too. I must make them understand that I am the only man living who is to blame. Before, Jiangsung would have said anything to protect his brother or to get some sleep, But now it seemed that his eyes were open to the dangers in front of him, and these dangers were very real. If Jangsung was found guilty of first degree murder,

he would be sentenced to death. Shortly after the coroner's inquest, the brothers were transferred to the district jail, an outdated, dilapidated facility. The jail did not look much different than it had when Charles Guitteau had stayed there forty years earlier, and the gallows from which Guittau had been hanged spoiler alert for episode four of History on Trial still stood in the courtyard, an ominous reminder of what Jog Sung was up against. He would have many days to watch

the gallows. It took more than seven months for the grand jury to return indictments in the case. Though John Laski, the United States attorney for d C, had publicly expressed confidence in the case, he was actually very concerned. Laski thought that Jangsun's confession, which the prisoner had now taken back, might very well be thrown out at trial. Laski also wondered whether the police had been too hasty to narrow in on one suspect, ignoring other possible leads, leads that

could introduce reasonable doubt at trial. Still, Laski managed to convince a grand jury. In late September. The grand jury handed down indictments, three for first degree murder for Jiangsung and one for passing a forged check sung In. Jiangsung must have been relieved that his brother was no longer implicated in the murder, but he had other concerns. His medical condition was worsening, and he had to spend time

in the jail's red cross room. On October seventh, nineteen nineteen, in the Washington d C. Supreme Court, Jangsung and Sung In pled not guilty. Judge Ashley M. Goule granted Song In bail, and he headed back to New York. Jiangsung returned to the district jail to await trial outside of the jail, His lawyers, James O'shay, John Sachs, and Charles Fahey were working feverishly. How exactly these lawyers came to be hired or who was paying them is unknown, but

they would fight tirelessly for their client. The central issue of Jiangsung's trial was his confession. Was it admissible or not. Jiangsung's lawyers would argue that it was not, that it

had been obtained through coercion and pressure. O'Shea introduced this idea as early as jury selection, asking jurors, in Scott Seligman's words quote, if they would afford a confession obtained after eight days grilling of a sick prisoner denied communication with his friends as much consideration as one given voluntarily under different circumstances. The prosecution also thought carefully about how

to approach the matter of the confession. US Attorney Lasky had decided to prosecute Jongsung only for the murder of Hu Bin Shin, since this was the only murder he had directly confessed to, But in opening statements on December fifteenth, Assistant US Attorney BELITHA. J. Laws Yes, Laws, great name for a lawyer tried to avoid the confession entirely aware that it might be thrown out. Instead, Laws focused on Jongsen's precarious finances, his motive to forge a check from

the mission. The prosecution's witnesses health solidify this motive. On the first day, Laws introduced a number of acquaintances of Jiangsung's from New York, all of whom testified to his financial struggles and his long term ill health, which made it impossible for him to work motive check. Next, doctor Lee Gung testified to having seen Jiang Sung at the mission on the night of the murders. Opportunity check. With motive and opportunity established, Laws turned to the police evidence.

Though he had shied away from addressing the confession earlier in the trial, the prosecutor now confronted it head on. He introduced receipts from the Dewey Hotel that showed that Jiangsung had been fed. He called Inspector Grant and Detective Burlingame to the stand, both of whom denied any abuse or pressure. When asked if Jiangsung's illness might have contributed to his confession, Burlingame said that Jang Sung was quote

sick in the head more than in the body. But on cross examination, James O'sheay revealed some cracks in the detective stories. O'Shea got Burlingame to admit that Jangsung had indeed been questioned late at night, and that when he had finally confessed, he had been lying in bed sick. Inpector Grant acknowledged that Jang Sung had not been allowed to see his brother, or any non police or hotel staff for that matter, for five days. On December twenty ninth,

Judge Gould ruled on the confession. The limits to which the police may go, Gould said, depends on the circumstances of each case. They have a right to use all reasonable methods in getting facts. In a case, he told the jury it was up to them to decide whether the police methods were reasonable. In this case, the confession would be admitted. It was a big win for the prosecution. On December thirty first, Joangsun's confession was read aloud. On

that climactic note, the prosecution rested. Defense lawyer James O'shay began his case with an opening statement. Despite Gould's ruling, O'Shea still believed that getting the jurors to question the confession was the best path forward. He told jurors that Jiangsung had been quote cursed, pushed and struck by the police, and that quote the defendant was in ill health and his condition became so acute that he would have confessed to anything should it result in his being left alone

by the detectives. To reinforce this point, O'Shea called song In to the stand. Song In painted a harrowing portrait of the interrogation. He described the police using racial slurs, threatening them with violence, and telling Jiangsung to confess in order to free his brother. Song In emotionally admitted that he too, in desperation, had asked his brother to confess, imploring Jiangsung, quote just say yes. They send us back to the hotel and give us food, and they don't

send us to dungeon. In other ways, though Sung In was a less than convincing witness, he now denied that it was Jang Sung who had given him the forged check, instead saying that a stranger asked him to deposit it. It was a hard story to swallow and raised questions about song In's credibility, But song Inn's testimony about the interrogation was corroborated by his brother. Jong Sung described the

stress and exhaustion of his week long ordeal. He explained that he would have done anything to make the questioning stop. By the time he had signed the tight out confession, Joansung said he had been so ill he could not get out of bed. Judge Gould seemed skeptical of these claims, asking Jongsung, nobody held a gun over you, and nobody threatened to kill you. Jog Sung replied, this is worse

than killing. If they kill me, I don't mind. Still unconvinced, Gould asked if he really thought signing up confession, which might lead to him receiving the death penalty, was worse than answering questions. They wanted me to confess and to sign, Jiangsung explained, And my idea is this, I want them to leave me alone and let my brother nurse me and let me get well. I don't want to argue

with them. At the same time, Jeong Sung's claims were backed up by the prosecution's strongest witness, doctor James Gannon, the chief medical officer at the district jail. Gannon had seen Jiang Sung shortly after his arrival at the jail and had been shocked at his condition. He diagnosed Jiuong Sung with spastic colitis, which he testified would result in almost constant pain. He observed that Jiangsun was emaciated and exhausted.

Gannon had been so concerned about the prisoner's health that he had confined Jiangsung to a bed in the jail's Red Cross room for more than a month. Once again, Judge Gould had questions for this witness. Are you prepared to say that his condition had any effect on his mind? Gould asked, oh, yes, I am. Gannon replied, what do you say he was of sound or unsound mind? In so far as he was unable to make an important decision? Gannon said he was of unsound mind. Judge Gould was

highly skeptical with spastic colitis. He asked, if he was accused of a crime, he would simply sign a paper and say you hang me. That is your opinion as a medical man. Gannon did not back down. I say, if he was as sick as that and in as great pain as that, he would do anything to have the torture stopped. Would Gannon's testimony convince the jury that Jang Sung's confession had not been made voluntarily. The defense certainly hoped so. James O'Shea stressed the terrible pressure Jean

Sun And had been under. During his closing arguments, he told jurors that the police's conduct was not in line with American values. Quote. If they treated this boy as the testimony indicates, it is high time an American jury put its stamp of disapproval on the methods of the police. United States Attorney John Lasky vehemently disagreed. In his closing argument for the prosecution. Lasky shot back, quote, the police would have been derelict in their duty if they had

not interrogated him at great length. The jury should affirm the police's work, or the criminal justice system would feel the consequences. Lasky continued, quote, if the police are not to be allowed to question persons suspected of crime, particularly those who have been trapped in conflicting statements and lies, you might as well close up the courthouse. Who would the jurors agree with? On January ninth, Judge Gould instructed

the jury and dismissed them to deliberate. They were not gone long, only half an hour after stepping out, the jury returned with a verdict. Jiangsung had been so sure that he would be acquitted that he had packed his suit case before departing the jail that morning. He now sat waiting for the jury's announcement. The court clerk rose and spoke on account of first degree murder for the killing of Hu Bin Chin. The jury had found the defendant Khu Jiangsung guilty. Jiang Sung crumpled in his chair.

He began to sob. His attorneys and the bailiff led him out of the courtroom. James o'sha told him that they would petition for a new trial in May. Judge Gould dismissed this petition, saying that the conviction would have come even without the confession. Gould even praised the police for their quote unusual detective skill. He set Joanngsung's sentencing date for a week time there was no doubt what the sentence would be. First degree murderers were automatically sentenced

to death in Washington at this time. On May fourteenth, nineteen twenty, Judge Gould pronounced that Hu Jiangsung would be hanged on December first. The prisoner collapsed once again. James O'she reassured Jiangsung, telling him that they would appeal, and indeed, they did appeal, though a number of scheduling difficulties, illnesses, and deaths, including that of Judge Gould, who died on

May twentieth, nineteen twenty one, of a heart attack. It would take more than three years for Jung Sung's appeal to be heard by the DC Court of Appeals. In the meantime, his execution had been stayed multiple times, almost always at the last moment. The news out of the appeals court was not good. On May seventh, nineteen twenty three, Judge Josiah A. Van Orsdell ruled the confession was admissible,

that the verdict and sentence were correct. James O'Shea told Jiangsung that they had one last legal resort, appealing to the Supreme Court. It was a long shot, the court only heard a small number of cases every year, but O'she thought that the court might be interested in Jiangsung's story. The debate over just how far police could go to get confessions had intensified since the last time the court had ruled on the admissibility of confessions in eighteen ninety seven.

The so called third degree the use by police of force, coercion and threat was increasingly unpopular, but there was no clear legal guidance on how to consider confessions obtained using the third degree. O'she thought the court might want to weigh in, but he didn't know if he was the right lawyer for the job, though he was admitted to the Supreme Court bar, and he didn't have much experience

arguing in the highest court. Fortunately for O'Shea and for Jiangsung, Juangsun's case had attracted some high profile, well connected figures who helped bring his story to the attention of several prominent lawyers, including John W. Davis, a former congressman, ambassador, and Solicitor General who had argued more than seventy cases

in front of the Supreme Court. Davis and O'shay were joined on Jong Sung's appeal by William Cullen Dennis, a former State Department lawyer, as well as O'sha's associates Charles Fahey and Frederick McKenney. In July nineteen twenty three, the team submitted their appeal to the court. Three months later, to their delight, the Supreme Court agreed to hear their case due to even more scheduling difficulties and misdeadlines. Oral

arguments did not commence for another six months. In April nineteen twenty four, Frederick McKenney and William Dennis presented oral arguments on Jong Sung's behalf, John Lasky's replacement. United States attorney Peyton Gordon argued on behalf of the United States. In his cell on the District Jail's gallows Lane, Jiangsung could only wait and hope. The medical care he had received while in jail had resolved his colliitis, and he

had grown healthier and plumper. He was known as a model prisoner, but the stress of imminent death weighed on him. On October thirteenth, nineteen twenty four, almost a year after the Supreme Court first agreed to hear the case, the Court published its opinion in Jiangsung Whu the United States. The unanimous decision was authored by Justice Louis D. Brandeis.

Brandis walked through the facts of Jiangsung's case, explaining the tactics the police had employed against him and Sung in then he weighed in on the admissibility of the confession the Court of Appeals, Brandeis wrote appears to have held the prisoner's statements admissible on the ground that confession made by one competent to act is to be deemed voluntary as a matter of law if it was not in due by a promise or a threat, and that here

these statements were not so induced. But Brandeis continued, the requisite of voluntariness is not satisfied by establishing merely that the confession was not induced by a promise or a threat. Any type of compulsion Brandis concluded rendered a confession involuntary, and in this case quote the undisputed facts showed that compulsion was applied. Ultimately, Brandeis wrote, a confession is voluntary in law if and only if it was in fact

voluntarily made. Brandeis's opinion was met with popular acclaim. The court has plainly and bluntly decided that torture has no place in American legal procedure, and that confession thus compelled and extorted may not be admitted, wrote the Pittsburgh Press. It is time the police realized that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty upon the New York world, and that it is up to them, not the accused himself, to do the proving said police, of course, were not

so pleased. The Washington Police denied that their officers had done anything improper in their interrogation of Jangsung. Commissioner James Oyster did agree to an investigation, but it wrapped in only five days, and surprise surprise, found no evidence of wrongdoing on the police's part. In the District jail, prisoners rejoiced, and not just Jiangsung. Another inmate on Gallows Lane, Eddie Perrygo, who had confessed after being kept awake for long stretches

of time, was granted a new trial. As a result of the ruling, Jiangsung would also be granted a new trial and another stay of execution his thirteenth Many people wondered whether the government would even pursue a new trial, but in November, the Department of Justice decided to move forward with re prosecuting Jangsung, and if they secured a conviction in his case, with the prosecution of his brother Sung In, who had been out on bail for the

past five years. However, as with everything in Jiangsung's case, the new trial moved slowly. In the intervening years, many of the original witnesses had died or moved. Some of them, like key prosecution witness doctor Lee Gong, had returned to China. Locating these witnesses and bringing them back to d C would take time. Finally, after more than a year of preparations, Jiangsung's second trial was scheduled for January nineteen twenty six. Jog Sung was entering this case with a new legal team.

For unknown reasons, he had soured on James O'Shea, who had fought so ferociously for his cause, and fired O'Shea in late nineteen twenty four. O'Shea had been replaced by Wilton Lambert, a prominent Washington lawyer who had been convinced to take the case by an anti death penalty advocate. Lambert in return recruited a Owsley Stanley, a former US

Senator from Kentucky and a brilliant public speaker. They would be joined by Lambert's law partner Rudolph Yateman and his son Arthur Lambert, as well as one member of Jongsung's original legal team, Charles Fahey. On January eleventh, nineteen twenty six, six years and two days after the initial verdict in Jongsung's case, court was called to order in the courtroom

of Washington Supreme Court Judge Wendell P. Stafford. In addition to new defense lawyers and a new judge, there were new prosecutors United States Attorney Peyton Gordon and Assistant United States Attorney George D. Horning Junior. There were also noticeable absences. Both police Chief Pullman and Inspector Grant, who had been so involved in the interrogation of Jangsung, had died. But for all these changes, much remained the same between Jongsung's

first and second trials. For that reason, I'm not going to give you a play by play. You can just go back and listen to the trial section again if you're really bored. The only substantive change, of course, was the fact that his confession was no longer admissible. Would this difference be enough to save Jangsung? Or, as Judge Gould had appined years before, was his conviction inevitable even without the confession. On February eighth, the jury began its deliberations.

Unlike Jangsung's first jury, which had returned in less than thirty minutes, these deliberations dragged on more than twenty four hours. Later, the jury told Judge Stafford that they were hopelessly deadlocked. Stafford discharged them. It was later revealed that this jury

had voted ten to two for acquittal once again. Jiangsung had believed that freedom was imminent and had packed his suitcase in anticipation of release, but he took the bad news calmly, telling reporters that he just hoped for a speedy retrial. The retrial took place two months later, beginning on April twelfth, nineteen twenty sive. All the players stayed the same, except for Judge Stafford, who was replaced by

Judge adolph A. Holing Junior. Once more. Feel free to listen to the trial section again if you'd like to experience this third trial in all its glory and or don't value your own time. On May twelfth, Jangsung's third jury was dismissed to deliberate again. They took their time, but by ten pm on May thirteenth, the four men reported to Judge Holing somewhat melodramatically that they were quote utterly and everlastingly in disagreement. Holing dismissed them. They had

voted nine to three in favor of acquittal. Immediately after, Judge Holding dismissed the jury. Wilton Lambert asked for bail for Jangsung. It would be in human to incarcerate this man any longer, he argued. He has been in jail for seven and a half years. Twenty four men have considered his case. Holding did not make a ruling on this or on Lambert's formal motion for bail submitted the next week, Jiangsung stayed in jail. On May twenty seventh,

Lambert submitted a motion to dismiss the charges. He included affidavits from the nineteen jurors across Jongsoon's three trials who had voted for acquittal. US Attorney Peyton Gordon told Lambert that he would decide in the next few weeks whether they would be moving forward with a fourth trial, which could not take place until the court's October term. In any case, Attorney General John G. Sargent decided to weigh in in his opinion, Jiangsung would never be convicted without

the confession. Another trial would be a waste of taxpayer money. The three trials had already cost the government and estimated one hundred and fifty thousand dollars or two point six million dollars today. US Attorney Gordon reluctantly agreed. At ten oh five a m. On June sixteenth, nineteen twenty, Seve Gordon formally requested that Judge Holing dismiss all charges against

Jiangsung and his brother song In. Standing in the same spot at the same table, in the same courtroom in which he had been sentenced to death six years earlier, Jiangsung took it all in. He was free. Song In two was free. To avoid the notoriety associated with the trial,

he began going by the first name Thomas. He appears to have stayed in the United States for the rest of his life, and in nineteen fifty helped found the Chinese League of America, a nonprofit that helped quote foster the fundamentals and ideals of American citizenship and the Constitution of the United States amongst Chinese immigrants in New York. Jiangsung was understandably more skeptical about the ideals of American citizenship given his ordeal. He stayed in the UK for

several more years before returning permanently to Shanghai. He married and had three daughters and lived a comfortable life, but seven years after his return in nineteen thirty seven, the Japanese occupied Shanghai and took his home and land. During World War II, his nearly penniless family often went hungry.

After the war, Jiangsung managed to get a short lived job with the Foreign Relations Office, But then in nineteen forty nine, the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Nationalist government in the Chinese Civil War and declared the birth of the People's Republic of China. As a member of an elite family, a former government employee, and a one time American resident, Jiangsung was viewed with suspicion by the new government. He was declared an enemy of the state and sent

to a labor camp. He would remain there for nearly fifteen years. In nineteen sixty four, he was transferred to a prison in Shanghai, where he lived until his death in June nineteen sixty eight, age seventy two. For this final prison sentence, in a dark twist of fate, the man who had undergone three trials in the United States received no trial at all. That's the story of Jiangsung, who the United States after the break. A brief exploration of the mystery at the heart of the case, and

a discussion of the case's meaningful legal legacy. Who murdered doctor Theodore Wang, Sia Chen Si and Hu Beinjing. We will likely never know the truth, but historian Scott Seligman, in his excellent book on the case, titled The Third Degree, presents a compelling case for a surprising suspect, none other than Jiang Sung. Seligman argues that despite the extremely suspect circumstances of Jiangsung's confession, the details within that confession closely

aligned with the facts of the case. The available evidence, Seligman writes, points convincingly to a scenario in which Jiangsun and Hu bin Shin conspired to steal money from the Chinese Educational Mission, in which their plans were foiled, in which Hu used his own revolver to shoot both of his colleagues to death, and in which Changshun subsequently murdered who the same gun. Neither of the men could have

committed the crime alone. Wu did not speak good enough English to forge the check or try to pass it in the bank. Jiangsung did not know where the mission kept its checkbook or where they bank. Wu had the gun. Perhaps he really did shoot Huang and Shi'a and then was killed by a horrified Jiangsung, or of course it could be someone else entirely. Again, we likely can't know the truth at this late date. But if it was Jiangsung, if he was indeed guilty, should this change our feelings

about this case? Scott Seligman argues that it shouldn't, and I agree. The importance of this case, Seligman writes, does not hinge on the defendant's guilt or innocence. A system that presumes innocence until guilt is proven must, of necessity provide protections against false conviction, even at the price of the occasional failure to convict the guilty. This concept is one that has been baked into our legal system from

its earliest days. In the very first episode of History on Trial, the eighteen hundred trial of Levi Weeks, defense lawyer Aaron Burr quoted jurist Matthew Hale saying, quote, it is better that five guilty persons should escape unpunished than one innocent man should die. The importance of Jong Sung's case is the groundwork it laid to help protect against

wrongful convictions. Brandeis's Supreme Court opinion put in place further safeguards for suspect undergoing interrogations and reduce the likelihood of false confessions dooming defendants. And these safeguards would be strengthened by further Supreme Court rulings. The most famous of these rulings came more than forty years after Jongsen's final trial and two years before his death, the nineteen sixty six

Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona. The defendant in that case, Ernesto Miranda, had been convicted for a kidnapping and rape, based in part on a confession he had given without

having been advised of his legal rights. Chief Justice Earl Warren, in his Miranda opinion, cited Brandeis's conclusions from the Jangsun case on how any confession obtained by compulsion must be excluded and continued quote in less adequate protective devices are employed to dispel the compulsion inherent in custodial surroundings, no statement obtained from the defendant can truly be the product of free choice or enlisted those protective devices a series

of rights which would soon be administered by law enforcement officers all across America in the form of the now familiar miranda warning you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind,

do you wish to speak to me? The Miranda warning and other safeguards put in place over the past one hundred years have not provided complete protection against coerce confessions. The Innocence Project reports that in quote, approximately twenty five percent of wrongful convictions overturned with DNA evidence, defendants made false confessions, admissions, or statements to law enforcement officials only

earlier this year. In May twenty twenty four, the city of Fontana, California, had to pay a man, Thomas Perez Junior, nine hundred thousand dollars after they coerced a confession from Perez. In twenty eighteen, after Perez reported his father missing, Fontana detectives used extreme tactics to try to get Perez to confess to murdering his father. They denied Perez his anxiety and blood pressure medications, interrogated him for seventeen hours, and

told Perez that his dog would be euthanized. Eventually, Perez confessed, and then it turned out that Perez's father was not even dead. So yes, the problem of forced confessions is a pervasive one, but thanks to dedicated lawyers more than a century ago, suspects today have more protection than Hu Jiang Sung did. Thank you for listening to History on Trial. If you've enjoyed the show, please consider leaving a rating or review. They can help new listeners find the podcast.

My main source for this episode was Scott D. Seligman's book The Third Degree, The Triple Murder that Shook Washington and changed American criminal justice. Special thanks to Christina Chen for her guidance on Shanghaiani's pronunciation. For complete bibliography, as well as a transcript of this episode with citations, please visit our website History on Trial podcast dot com. History on Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward.

The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Trevor Young and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show at History on Trial podcast dot com. And follow us on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.