Mohr v. State

584 So. 2d 426, 1991 WL 150382
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 7, 1991
Docket07-KA-59467
StatusPublished
Cited by255 cases

This text of 584 So. 2d 426 (Mohr v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mohr v. State, 584 So. 2d 426, 1991 WL 150382 (Mich. 1991).

Opinion

584 So.2d 426 (1991)

Randy (Randi) MOHR
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 07-KA-59467.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

August 7, 1991.

*427 William A. Pate, Dale Robinson, Gulfport, for appellant.

Jack B. Lacy, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Mike C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, P.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.

HAWKINS, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

Randi Mohr was convicted in the Pike County Circuit Court on two counts of child fondling and sentenced to two ten-year terms to run concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Mohr appeals his conviction, raising four assignments of error:

1. the trial court erred in admitting his confession into evidence;
2. he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial;
3. the trial court erred in allowing a seven year old girl to testify; and
4. the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

Finding no merit in these assignments of error, we affirm.

We need not detail all the trial evidence, but will only relate the facts relevant to the issues on appeal.

I. ADMISSIBILITY OF MOHR'S CONFESSION

At trial the defense made a motion to suppress Mohr's confession. The circuit judge then conducted a suppression hearing outside the presence of the jury, at which only Deputy Sheriff Ken Foil testified.

Foil testified that he arrested Mohr at his home for child fondling on Monday afternoon *428 and took him to the Pike County Sheriff's Department. When there, Foil asked questions to determine if Mohr understood his rights, then read Mohr his Miranda rights, and asked him to sign the notification of rights form. Foil testified Mohr understood his rights and signed the form. Foil then read the waiver of rights form to Mohr. Mohr did not sign this form, however, saying he would not sign anything until he talked to Larry Ray, his mental health counselor.

Foil stopped questioning Mohr, called Ray, and told Ray that Mohr was under arrest for child fondling and that Mohr wished to speak to him. Foil remained in the room while Mohr spoke to Ray. Foil heard Mohr tell Ray that he was in jail and under arrest for playing with two girls at the Bogue Chitto Water Park and that he guessed he did it because he had been drinking.

After Mohr hung up, Foil explained to Mohr that they needed to talk and again read Mohr the Waiver of Rights form. Mohr then signed the waiver and gave a complete statement. Foil wrote the statement down as Mohr spoke. The statement reads as follows:

On Friday night November 20, 1987 I began drinking and then the next day on Saturday several of us went out to some private property besides Bogue Chitto Water Park so some friends could hunt for deer and picnic that day. Later on that afternoon my friends said they were going back hunting and the mother of these two girls said they were going back home and I would bring them home. After they had left the two girls wanted me to piggie back ride them. My pants kept falling down and it was all their fault. The two girls took their clothes off and it made me get on a hard and so I guess I had [been] drinking too much. I touched both of them between their legs but did not put my finger or penis in them.

After Mohr gave the statement, Mohr refused to sign the written statement and for the first time asked for an attorney. Foil testified that he stopped questioning Mohr when he asked for an attorney.

Following the suppression hearing, the court ruled that the confession was admissible, that Mohr had freely and voluntarily given the confession and that Mohr's Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not been violated. The State then offered Mohr's confession into evidence before the jury.

In testifying in his own defense before the jury, Mohr denied fondling the young girls and testified that he did not give Foil a confession, alleging that Foil made up the statement. He said Foil threatened him and was abusive, and that he asked for an attorney before he asked to speak to his mental health counselor. He said that he only asked to speak to Ray after Foil told him that his attorney was not home. As above noted, however, none of Mohr's testimony was offered at the suppression hearing.

Mohr argues that his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights were violated in admitting the confession.

Mohr first argues that his refusal to sign the waiver of rights form coupled with his statement that he would not sign anything until he talked to his mental health counselor were clear and unequivocal evidence of his intent not to relinquish his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, and that they were violated. Mohr correctly points out that once an accused exercises his right to remain silent, the police must honor it and terminate questioning, allow a significant time to pass before questioning him again, advise him of his rights again, and then only question him about a crime that was not the subject of the previous interrogation. Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 96 S.Ct. 321, 46 L.Ed.2d 313 (1975). In addition, Mohr cites U.S. v. Cherry, 733 F.2d 1124 (5th Cir.1984), for the proposition that once an accused makes even an equivocal request for counsel, the police can only question him to clarify his request.

Mohr argues that the record does not support a waiver of his right to remain silent at any time subsequent to his refusal *429 to sign the waiver of rights form, reminding us of the State's heavy burden of proof when there had been no written waiver. North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U.S. 369, 99 S.Ct. 1755, 60 L.Ed.2d 286 (1979); McDonald v. Lucas, 677 F.2d 518 (5th Cir.1982).

We are not persuaded. Mohr's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights were not violated. The Mosley guidelines, which restrict questioning after the accused has exercised his right to remain silent, do not apply here because Mohr did not exercise his right to remain silent. Mohr's refusal to sign the waiver of rights form was not a per se invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights. United States v. McDaniel, 463 F.2d 129 (5th Cir.1972), cert. denied, 413 U.S. 919, 93 S.Ct. 3046, 37 L.Ed.2d 1041 (1973); United States v. Sawyer, 504 F.2d 878 (5th Cir.1974); United States v. Devall, 462 F.2d 137 (5th Cir.1972); McDonald, 677 F.2d at 520. Mohr's request for a mental counselor was not a per se invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights. A request for an attorney invokes the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights, but a request for someone other than an attorney does not. Fare v. Michael C., 442 U.S. 707, 99 S.Ct. 2560, 61 L.Ed.2d 197 (1979). In Fare, where the defendant asked for his probation officer, the Supreme Court stated:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Marcus Harris a/k/a Peanut v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2024
Willie Ray Bolton v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2023
Marcus Gardner v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2023
Thomas Tubbs v. State of Mississippi
185 So. 3d 363 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2016)
Anthony Windless v. State of Mississippi
185 So. 3d 956 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2015)
Marlon Latodd Howell v. State of Mississippi
163 So. 3d 240 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2014)
Williams v. State
81 So. 3d 1165 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
Robert v. State
52 So. 3d 1233 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
McCullough v. State
47 So. 3d 1206 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2010)
Chamberlin v. State
55 So. 3d 1046 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2010)
Ewing v. State
45 So. 3d 652 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2010)
Eric Moffett v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2010
Frazier v. State
53 So. 3d 800 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
584 So. 2d 426, 1991 WL 150382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mohr-v-state-miss-1991.