Patricia N. Wernert v. Dorothy Arn, Warden

819 F.2d 613, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 7712, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 1714
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 9, 1987
Docket85-4017
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 819 F.2d 613 (Patricia N. Wernert v. Dorothy Arn, Warden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patricia N. Wernert v. Dorothy Arn, Warden, 819 F.2d 613, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 7712, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 1714 (6th Cir. 1987).

Opinions

DAVID A. NELSON, Circuit Judge.

Patricia Wernert, the petitioner in this habeas corpus proceeding, makes a three-pronged collateral attack upon her conviction for aggravated murder. First, she claims that incriminating statements admitted during trial were improperly obtained after she had expressed a desire to consult with an attorney. Second, she contends that the admission of her husband’s confession violated her Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against her. Third, she asserts that perjured testimony offered by the prosecution rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. Finding none of these contentions well taken, we shall affirm the district court’s denial of the writ.

At 11:00 p.m. on November 26, 1975, police arrived at the home of Mrs. Wernert and her husband to execute a search warrant for a stolen car. The Wernerts were advised of their Miranda rights at that time. Although neither was placed under arrest, both Mr. and Mrs. Wernert voluntarily accompanied the officers to a police station. Prior to questioning Mrs. Wernert at the police station, officers again advised her of her Miranda rights. The rights were read to her from a waiver form, and after each line was read Mrs. Wernert indicated she understood. She was then handed the waiver form, which she read and signed.

After signing the form, Mrs. Wernert made a statement that was recorded on tape. She declared on the tape that she had been advised of her rights when the search warrant was presented at the house and again after she voluntarily accompanied the officers to the police station. Her rights were read to her for a third time as the conversation was being recorded, and Mrs. Wernert stated after the reading of each right that she understood it. She then repeated the waiver and agreed to make a statement regarding the automobile theft.

Mrs. Wernert was “booked” on an automobile theft charge at approximately 2:00 a.m. on November 27, 1975, and was then placed in a jail cell. When she was taken to her cell a matron asked her whether she would like to make a phone call. Mrs. Wernert replied, “No, my husband [who was being detained on another floor] will call the attorney upstairs.”

At 6:10 a.m. a detective removed Mrs. Wernert from her cell and again advised her of her rights, indicating that he wanted to question her regarding the November 17 murders of her mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. The detective followed the same procedure used earlier, reading the waiver form aloud, asking Mrs. Wernert after each sentence whether she understood it, and then having her read and sign the form. A tape recording was made of the questioning that followed, with the detective once again reading Mrs. Wernert her rights and having her state whether she understood them. Once again she agreed to waive her rights. In the ensuing interrogation Mrs. Wernert said that she did not intend for the women to be killed, although her husband and a friend, Richard Arterberry, had talked of “roughing up” the in-laws in a staged robbery to frighten them into moving out of their house.

Telephone call records indicate that after she had been questioned, Mrs. Wernert attempted to reach the telephone number of her family attorney. There is no evidence that anyone was told she was attempting to obtain legal assistance or knew whose number she was calling.

At approximately 10:00 a.m., while the detective was walking Mrs. Wernert [615]*615through the hail to a pre-arranged meeting with her husband, the detective told Mrs. Wernert that her story with regard to the murders was inconsistent with a confession made by her husband. As the detective testified, he told her that her husband had confessed that he and Mrs. Wernert had participated with Richard Arterberry in planning the murders of the two women as mercy killings. The detective testified that Mrs. Wernert then admitted that her husband's statement was true and that she had lied earlier. Although the Miranda warnings were not repeated in full immediately before Mrs. Wernert was told of her husband's confession, the detective did tell her that "her rights still remained with her."

At trial Mrs. Wernert denied having said that her husband's confession was truthful, and she testified that although she had heard her husband and Arterberry speak of "roughing up" the two women in a staged robbery in order to scare them into moving out of their house, she had thought they were joking. A common pleas jury evidently did not believe this testimony, and convicted Mrs. Wernert on two counts of aggravated murder. The trial court sentenced her to death. The convictions were affirmed on appeal, but the death sentence was vacated in light of Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). The Ohio Supreme Court denied review.

Mrs. Wernert then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. That court denied the petition, and this appeal followed.

I. Fifth Amendment Claim

Mrs. Wernert claims that her Fifth Amendment rights were violated because she was interrogated, without counsel, after she had expressed a desire to consult with an attorney, and the results of the interrogation were admitted in evidence at trial.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478-79, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that:

"... when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities in any significant way and is subjected to questioning, the [Fifth Amendment] privilege against self-incrimination is jeopardized. Procedural safeguards must be employed to protect the privilege, and unless other fully effective means are adopted to notify the person of his right of silence and to assure that the exercise of the rights will be scrupulously honored, the following measures are required. He must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires. Opportunity to exercise these rights must be afforded to him throughout the interrogation. After such warnings have been given, and such opportunity afforded him, the individual may knowingly and intelligently waive these rights and agree to answer questions or make a statement. But unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him."

"An accused in custody, `having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him,' unless he validly waives his earlier request for the assistance of counsel." Smith v. Illinois, 469 U.S. 91, 94-95, 105 S.Ct. 490, 492, 83 L.Ed.2d 488 (1984) (quoting Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1885, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981)). As the Court held in Edwards and reiterated in Smith, the Miranda rule "embodies two distinct inquiries. First, courts must determine whether the accused actually invoked his right to counsel....

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Patricia N. Wernert v. Dorothy Arn, Warden
819 F.2d 613 (Sixth Circuit, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
819 F.2d 613, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 7712, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 1714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patricia-n-wernert-v-dorothy-arn-warden-ca6-1987.