This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Watts (D) was arrested and held as a suspect for a murder during the course of a criminal assault. After being questioned, D was released. The police found a body later that day and arrested D again. D was questioned in relays for 3 1/2 hours. For the next four or five days, D was interrogated for stretches up to 9 1/2 hours a day. D was kept in solitary confinement and was denied food and sleep. The solitary confinement had no place to sit or sleep except on the floor, and D was interrogated by relays of police officers, usually until long past midnight. D was denied both a preliminary hearing and the opportunity to confer with counsel. After seven days of continuous interrogation, D finally made an incriminating statement, and the prosecutor discovered an incriminating document. D claimed that his confession was procured under circumstances that denied him due process of law.

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