In This Issue - Vol 6, No. 1 (Fall, 2005)
From the Chairman
Detroit Trooper Indicted for Manslaughter
Chicago Cop Is Scapegoat for Racism Charges
Update on Wyatt Henderson
Stephanie Mohr Case on Hold
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Following an unsuccessful appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, LELDF and Stephanie Mohr’s lawyers decided to petition the original trial judge for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel and on the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision holding the federal sentencing guidelines were unconstitutional.
There were several major shortcomings in the representation she received at trial, including:
1) failure to object to the prosecution use of untruthful testimony of a witness who called Officer Mohr a racist; 2)CAfailure to present character witnesses who would testify to the truthfulness of her statements; 3) failure to object to the use of opinion evidence regarding use of force in her releasing of her police dog; 4) failure to object to the use of statements about polygraph use; and 5) failure to file a motion to dismiss based on the unconstitutionality of the jury makeup in which police officers were denied the right to be members.
When the judge rules on former Officer Mohr’s petition, we expect a new trial and at a minimum a new sentencing hearing to reduce her sentence substantially. We hope for a decision soon as she has been incarcerated since 2003 in a federal prison camp in West Virginia.
