Frank M. Miller, Jr. v. Peter J. Fenton, Superintendent, Rahway State Prison, Irwin I. Kimmelman, Attorney General, State of New Jersey

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, Circuit Judge.

This state habeas corpus appeal requires us to determine whether a confession to murder, alleged by the petitioner to have been secured by psychological coercion, was voluntary and hence admissible. After reviewing the circumstances of the confession under a plenary standard, see Miller v. Fenton, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 445, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985), rev’g Miller v. Fenton, 741 F.2d 1456 (3d Cir.1984), we find that the confession was voluntary. We therefore affirm.

I. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On August 13, 1973, seventeen-year-old Deborah Margolin was brutally…