Opinion ID: 1648144
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Guilt Phase of Land's Trial

Text: Land contends in his mandamus petition that his trial counsel was ineffective at the guilt stage of his trial because, he says, his counsel did not adequately challenge his alleged waiver of rights made pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, supra, on the basis that he lacked the mental capacity to make such a waiver. Land says that the documents pertinent to this claim that his trial counsel did not adequately challenge his Miranda waiver are his mental-health and correctional records; he says his mental-health history and his prior experiences with law-enforcement authorities are directly relevant to the question of the voluntariness of his Miranda waiver. The State maintains that Land did not make this claim in his petition for postconviction relief. The State is correct in arguing that Land did not present this claim in his Rule 32 petition as he has presented it in his mandamus petition. In his Rule 32 petition, Land alleged numerous ways in which he said his trial counsel was ineffective at the guilt stage of his trial. A failure to adequately challenge his waiver of his Miranda rights was not, however, among the shortcomings ascribed to Land's trial counsel. Land made a separate claim in his Rule 32 petition in which he challenged the admission during his trial of the statements he had made while in custody, arguing that the statements were inadmissible because, he said, police officers had continued to interrogate him after he had invoked his right to counsel and because, he further says, the statements were obtained through coercion and intimidation. Nowhere in this claim does Land mention the alleged ineffectiveness of his trial counsel. Moreover, the Miranda claim was dismissed by the trial court. Land has not shown that he is entitled to the discovery he seeks in connection with this dismissed claim.