Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Mohamed, 205 N.C. App. 470 (Jul. 20, 2010)
The trial court did not commit plain error by failing to exclude the defendant’s statements to investigating officers after his arrest. The defendant had argued that because of his limited command of English, the Miranda warnings were inadequate and he did not freely and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights. The court determined that there was ample evidence to support a conclusion that the defendant’s English skills sufficiently enabled him to understand the Miranda warnings that were read to him. Among other things, the court referenced the defendant’s ability to comply with an officer’s instructions and the fact that he wrote his confession in English. The court also concluded that the evidence was sufficient to permit a finding that the defendant’s command of English was sufficient to permit him to knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda rights, referencing, among other things, his command of conversational English and the fact that he never asked for an interpreter.