Monroe Randle v. State of Mississippi

228 So. 3d 334, 2017 WL 4251497
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 26, 2017
DocketNO. 2016-CP-01245-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 228 So. 3d 334 (Monroe Randle v. State of Mississippi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Monroe Randle v. State of Mississippi, 228 So. 3d 334, 2017 WL 4251497 (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

WESTBROOKS, J.,

FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. Monroe Randle appeals the denial of his petition for postconviction relief (PCR) in the Circuit Court of Clay County. In a prior appeal, this Court found, that the circuit court had erroneously ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to determine whether the Mississippi Parole Board’s decision was correct. Randle v. State, 210 So.3d 1022, 1023 (¶ 6) (Miss. Ct. App. 2015). We remanded Randle’s cause to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing. Id. Following the hearing, the circuit court denied Randle’s PCR petition, finding that the parole board had reasonable cause to revoke Randle’s parole. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2, In January 1980, Randle pled guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Randle was paroled on February 24, 2010, and was allowed to reside in Ohio via an interstate compact, as codified in Mississippi Code Annotated section 47-7-81 (Rev. 2015). On May 18, 2012, Randle was arrested in Ohio and charged with: (1) threatening serious bodily harm to his half-brother and his half-brother’s girlfriend, and (2) possession of a gun.

¶ 3. Randle’s half-brother, Danny Woods, and Woods’s girlfriend, Robin Graham, gave written statements to Randle’s Ohio parole officer. Woods and Graham claimed that Randle had been stalking Graham, making sexual advances,'calling her cell phone, and leaving threatening voicemail message's. Graham played the voicemail messages for the parole officer. Randle reported to his parole officer and admitted calling- Graham and leaving threatening messages on her phone. Ran-dle was then' attested for violating Lhis parole. Randle signed a document entitled “notification of release violation hearing.”

¶4. That document reiterated Ran-dle’s right to testify, present witnesses or evidence, confront- and cross-examine witnesses, and additional rights. .The notification also apprised Randle of the accusations ágainst him, and Randle admitted to each charge with mitigation. He also signed a “waiver of probable cause hearing/for interstate compact offenders only.” That waiver relinquished Randle’s right to a preliminary hearing. By signing the waiver, Randle also' admitted to committing the alleged violations and that probable cause was found.

¶ 5. Randle returned to Mississippi .and went before the parole board for a revocation hearing. Following the hearing, the parole board revoked Randle’s parole based on his arrest for simple assault and firearm possession. Aggrieved with the revocation of his parole, Randle filed a number of motions challenging the validity of the parole board’s decision.

¶ 6. Randle filed a PCR petition in the circuit court, but the court erroneously ruled it did not have jurisdiction to review the parole board’s decision. That ruling was appealed to -this Court, and we remanded Randle’s cause back to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing. Randle, 210 So.3d at 1023 (¶ 6). At the evidentiary hearing, parole-board attorneys for the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) presented Woods’s and Graham’s statements,, Randle’s Ohio-arrest information, an email stating that Randle waived his probable-cause hearing and admitted guilt, Randle’s signed notification of release-violation hearing, his signed waiver of probable-cause hearing, and the preliminary-revocation-hearing report.

¶ 7. MDOC also presented the testimony of Robert Wentworth, a hearing officer with the parole board. Wentworth .stated that if a parolee on an interstate compact is arrested, the State of Mississippi must first determine whether the arresting state would revoke the offender’s parole. If the arresting state would revoke the offender’s parole, the State of Mississippi must “retake” or bring the offender back to the state for a parole-board hearing.

¶8. Wentworth stated that retake was mandatory for Randle’s case, because Ohio would have revoked Randle’s parole. As.a result, Mississippi was required to bring Randle back to the state for a parole-revocation hearing. According to Went-worth, the parole board was presented with evidence that Randle left five threatening voicemail messages for Graham. The board was also presented with Woods’s and Graham’s written statements. Woods and Graham stated that they were both concerned for their safety and feared that Randle might physically harm them.

¶ 9. According to Wentworth, jurisdictions involved in, an interstate compact do not usually pursue the pending charges if they feel the threat posed by the offender/parolee is alleviated. For that reason, Wentworth- stated that is was not uncommon for Ohio to refuse to pursue charges after Randle was taken by the state that paroled him. Wentworth stated that it was irrelevant whether Randle was officially charged on those crimes because they were criminal acts, whether pursued or not. Wentworth reiterated that the evidence of Randle’s admission of guilt “with mitigation,” the witness statements, and the statements of Randle’s parole officer that he listened to the voicemail messages, resulted in the revocation of Randle’s parole.

¶ 10. During Randle’s evidentiary hearing for his PCR petition, Randle argued that the parole board erred in revoking his parole, because he was neither charged with nor convicted of the alleged crimes. Randle challenged the credibility of Woods’s and Graham’s statements and asserted that he did not intend to admit to the offenses or waive his right to a preliminary hearing.

¶ 11. At the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing, the circuit judge notified the parties that he would review the appropriate standards of law and render a decision. On August 2, 2016, the court denied Randle’s PCR petition, concluding that the parole board had reasonable cause to revoke Ran-dle’s parole based upon the evidence presented, including Randle’s admission of guilt. Randle appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 12. An appellate court will not reverse a trial court’s dismissal of a PCR motion unless the trial court’s decision was clearly erroneous. Fortenberry v. State, 151 So.3d 222, 224 (¶ 5) (Miss. Ct. App. 2014) (citing Means v. State, 43 So.3d 438, 441 (¶ 6) (Miss. 2010)). The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that “before one released on parole may be returned to custody, [the State] must [show] that he has violated the terms and conditions of parole.” Elkins v. State, 116 So.3d 185, 186 (¶ 8) (Miss. Ct. App. 2013).

DISCUSSION

¶ 13. Randle asserts that his parole was impermissibly revoked, because the evidence relied upon was insufficient and legally defective. Randle further argues that the circuit judge exhibited bias when he referenced Randle’s two prior felony convictions during the hearing. Randle contends that the circuit court violated his constitutional rights when it determined that the parole board did not err in revoking his parole. We disagree.

¶ 14. At Randle’s evidentiary hearing, MDOC’s attorney presented evidence that Randle was arrested for simple assault by threat and for possession of a firearm. MDOC presented evidence of Randle’s admission of guilt “with mitigation” to committing the offenses.

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228 So. 3d 334, 2017 WL 4251497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monroe-randle-v-state-of-mississippi-missctapp-2017.