Narjes Modarresi v. Texas

The trial court admitted without objection a confession obtained after police officers ignored petitioner’s request to terminate the interview and a second confession taken after she led the police to the location where she buried her baby. Petitioner, who suffered from severe mental illness, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. In a state habeas corpus proceeding, she alleged that her trial counsel was ineffective by failing to move to suppress her confessions and the discovery of the baby’s body. The trial court recommended relief after concluding that this evidence should have been excluded because (1) petitioner was not advised of her Miranda rights after an officer told her that she could not leave until they found the baby, (2) officers ignored her request to terminate the interview, (3) the first confession was involuntary because it was induced by an officer’s promise to help her receive psychiatric treatment if she took them to the baby, and (4) the discovery of the baby and the second confession, given after petitioner waived her Miranda rights, were tainted by the involuntary first confession. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) denied relief, stating only that petitioner “has not met her burden to obtain relief under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).” The questions presented are: I. Whether the Court should summarily reverse the TCCA’s judgment because its rejection of petitioner’s ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim contravened this Court’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment precedent.