State of West Virginia v. Ty Mogyoros

CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 2022
Docket21-0250
StatusPublished

This text of State of West Virginia v. Ty Mogyoros (State of West Virginia v. Ty Mogyoros) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of West Virginia v. Ty Mogyoros, (W. Va. 2022).

Opinion

FILED May 26, 2022 EDYTHE NASH GAISER, CLERK

STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS

State of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Respondent

vs.) No. 21-0250 (Hancock County Nos. 20-F-15 and 20-F-59)

Ty Mogyoros, Defendant Below, Petitioner

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Petitioner Ty Mogyoros, by counsel Gary A. Collias, appeals the Circuit Court of Hancock County’s February 22, 2021, plea and sentencing order entered following his convictions of fleeing while driving under the influence, driving under the influence, and reckless fleeing. Respondent State of West Virginia, by counsel Patrick Morrisey and William E. Longwell, filed a response. Petitioner filed a reply.

This Court has considered the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal. The facts and legal arguments are adequately presented, and the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Upon consideration of the standard of review, the briefs, and the record presented, the Court finds no substantial question of law and no prejudicial error. For these reasons, a memorandum decision affirming the circuit court’s order is appropriate under Rule 21 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.

On June 26, 2019, Weirton Police Officer Joseph DeStefano and West Virginia State Trooper Michael Hoder responded to a Dollar General store in Hancock County, West Virginia, following a report of a male possibly overdosing behind the wheel of a black Jeep Liberty in the store’s parking lot. No one was in the Jeep when the officers arrived. The officers ran the license plate on the Jeep and determined that it belonged to a different vehicle owned by petitioner. After concluding that the Jeep was not stolen, the officers removed the plate and waited for approximately thirty minutes for the driver/owner to return. No one returned to the Jeep, so the officers left.

Later in the day, Trooper Hoder was still in the vicinity of the Dollar General when the black Jeep Liberty passed him. Trooper Hoder attempted to initiate a stop, but the Jeep fled. Trooper Hoder pursued the Jeep into Pennsylvania and back into Brooke County, West Virginia, where the Jeep was successfully stopped. Petitioner was arrested, transported to the Weirton Police Department, and administered field sobriety tests, which he failed.

1 Petitioner was indicted in January of 2020 on one count each of fleeing while driving under the influence (“DUI”); DUI; reckless fleeing; grand larceny; and driving while license/privilege revoked due to a DUI, third or subsequent offense. The first three charges—the only charges at issue in this appeal—stemmed from the incident described above. The remaining charges were alleged to have occurred months later and were severed from the charges at issue here. 1

Petitioner moved to suppress “any and all statements [he] made,” alleging that Trooper Hoder interrogated him without advising him of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). The State requested specification of the statements petitioner sought to suppress. Petitioner explained that, based upon the times reflected on the DUI Information Sheet indicating when he was advised of his rights under Miranda and when he finished answering “forty-three separate questions,” only nine minutes elapsed, which “would not be enough time for the list of questions to be asked, answered, and reviewed by an allegedly intoxicated person in a manner consistent with a knowing and voluntary statement.” Petitioner also asserted that there was information included in an accompanying narrative that was not included in the list of questions asked, suggesting that

the custodial interrogation took place prior to the Miranda waiver being signed and with the interview sheet being a memorialization of parts of this earlier interview. Alternatively, there were two interviews, and West Virginia has yet to join the jurisdictions that allow a subsequent Mirandized statement to cure an earlier statement obtained in violation of Miranda much less specify the level of scrutiny to be given such a subsequent waiver and statement.

At the September 30, 2020, hearing on petitioner’s motion to suppress, the court expressed some confusion over the basis of the motion. Petitioner explained that his statements to the police should be suppressed because

the police report doesn’t mention Miranda, and there are timing issues involved as to when they were given and if he was interviewed pre-Miranda, but also the timing as to how long it took to do all of this we believe calls into question whether it was voluntary and whether he actually did give a second statement.

Petitioner also agreed with the court’s recitation that

it appears that the defendant was generally alleging that there were some statements that he may have given after he was taken into custody that were not

1 These charges were assigned Case No. 20-F-15. Petitioner was indicted separately, in Case No. 20-F-59, on one count of driving while license/privilege revoked due to a DUI, third or subsequent offense; entry of a building other than a dwelling; and DUI. These latter charges were resolved by plea agreement and are mentioned here only because the order on appeal is a joint plea and sentencing order addressing both Case Nos. 20-F-15 and 20-F-59. Petitioner makes clear that “[n]o issue raised in this appeal relates in any way to Case Number 20-F-59.”

2 knowing and voluntary because either Miranda was not given or maybe that he didn’t understand his Miranda rights if they were given to him.

But after further discussion, the court said, “Well, to me his motion is not clear because I don’t think he’s clear exactly.” And after further explanation from petitioner, the court asked the State, “[D]oes that make it muddier or clearer for you[?]” The State responded, “Muddier.” The State proposed calling petitioner to “find out if he’s saying that there was an interview beforehand or if he’s alleging that this trooper interviewed him while he was in custody prior to reading him his Miranda rights.” The court said that petitioner “doesn’t have to testify” but that the State “can call him.” The court indicated that it “underst[oo]d the issue now” and stated that “the motion has been made, and the [S]tate has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the statements made on the Report of Criminal Investigation were knowing and voluntary, and the same on the West Virginia DUI Information Sheet. Otherwise they don’t come in.” 2

The State called petitioner to the stand. Petitioner stated that he would not be testifying and asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The State questioned whether “the Fifth Amendment appl[ies] to suppression hearings?” The State indicated that petitioner’s “words and statements can’t be used against him at trial unless he chooses to testify differently than how he testifies at this suppression hearing. . . . His testimony can’t be introduced by the [S]tate unless he chooses to testify inconsistently.” Petitioner continued to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege.

Trooper Hoder testified that petitioner “was immediately placed in custody once we removed him from the vehicle, and everything that happened between me and him as far as conversation-wise happened after arrest.” Petitioner was then “immediately” transported to the Weirton Police Department so that the trooper could safely conduct field sobriety tests there rather than “in the middle of U.S. 22.” The trooper testified that petitioner

was Mirandized on the side of the road. . . . As far as questioning, from the time I transported him to Weirton PD and the field sobrieties were conducted, I didn’t do any formal interview with him.

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
State v. Persinger
286 S.E.2d 261 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1982)
State v. Guthrie
461 S.E.2d 163 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1995)
State v. Stuart
452 S.E.2d 886 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1994)
Legg v. Felinton
637 S.E.2d 576 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2006)
State of West Virginia v. Howard Clarence Jenner
780 S.E.2d 762 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2015)
State of West Virginia v. Frank Gene Thompson
813 S.E.2d 59 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2018)

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State of West Virginia v. Ty Mogyoros, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-west-virginia-v-ty-mogyoros-wva-2022.