Opinion ID: 1598918
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the court erred in allowing the introduction of the exemplars where the items were taken in violation of burns' rights under the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendment of the u.s. constitution.

Text: ¶ 40. In his next assignment of error Burns alleges that his Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment constitutional rights were violated when, over his objection, the trial judge allowed writing exemplars taken from Burns without his knowledge to come into evidence. ¶ 41. Counsel for Burns argues in his brief that because Burns did not sign a consent form to have the handwriting samples seized from him, his Fourth Amendment right against unlawful seizure was violated. He further argues that the taking of the exemplars without warning of self-incrimination is a violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Finally, Burns claims that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel at trial. ¶ 42. Following a request by the district attorney's office, Officer Buddy Bell, jail administrator for the Tupelo Police Department, asked Burns to write down who should be allowed to visit him on visiting days. The record makes it clear that the real purpose of Bell's request was to obtain for the district attorney a known writing sample against which to compare the letters Burns wrote to Contina Kohlheim. Bell testified that it was not common for the jail to request written confirmation of an inmate's visitors. However, Bell further testified that he believed that if he had approached Burns requesting a handwriting sample or if the district attorney's office had first obtained a court order to force Burns to give a handwriting sample, he would not have cooperated. ¶ 43. This particular issue is relatively new to Mississippi. However, the United States Supreme Court and various State Supreme Courts have addressed this same issue. The taking of handwriting exemplars is treated in much the same manner as blood samples, hair samples, etc. in that it is not a critical stage requiring presence of counsel and that there is no privacy expectation in handwriting samples taken from a prisoner. ¶ 44. The trial judge in the case at bar held a hearing outside the presence of the jury in order to rule on the defendant's motion to suppress. After hearing arguments of counsel for the defendant and the prosecution, the judge determined that: he has no expectationslegitimate expectation of privacy in his handwriting under the 4th amendment. And the court finds that the 5th amendment doesn't apply either to this type of evidence, handwriting exemplar. It is well-established law that the 5th amendment privilege against self-incrimination applies only to evidence of a testimonial or communicative nature and does not protect a suspect from being compelled to produce real or physical evidence. This law has most recently been stated last year in United States versus Timothy J. McVey, who is charged in the bombing in Oklahoma City. For these reasons, the motion to suppress shall be and the same is hereby overruled. Ready to proceed? ¶ 45. The State argues that the decision to admit or exclude evidence is one left to the discretion of the trial judge. Relying on this Court's ruling in Fisher v. State, 690 So.2d 268 (Miss.1996), the State argues that a trial judge enjoys a great deal of discretion as to the relevancy and admissibility of evidence. Id. at 274 ( citing Shearer v. State, 423 So.2d 824, 826 (Miss.1982)). The State further contends that Burns failed to show reversible error relying on Branch v. State, 347 So.2d 957 (Miss.1977), where this Court held that there is a presumption that the judgment of the trial court is correct, and the burden is on the appellant to demonstrate some reversible error to this Court. Id. at 958.