Vernon Broadcaster - Printable Version

Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com

Published - Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Judge: Molner’s silence a defense tactic, he’s competent

Jared Molner’s silence will not keep him out of the Vernon County Courthouse.

Vernon County Circuit Court Judge Michael Rosborough handed down a written decision, Friday, that denies a competency declaration be made in Molner’s case.

"There is no reason to doubt the defendant’s competence," Rosborough wrote.

The former Westby man is charged with six counts, including the felonies: robbery, burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon and concealing stolen property, all as party to the crime. On the felony charges alone Molner faces 58 ½ years in prison and $60,000 in fines. The charges stem from a 2005 bank robbery in De Soto.

Molner’s defense attorney, George Wilbur, raised the issue of a competency declaration in Molner’s case, because Molner has not spoken to him, or jail staff, since he was arrested and brought to Vernon County to face the bank robbery charges in February. Vernon County District Attorney Timothy Gaskell objected to a competency declaration saying that past actions by Molner show that he is competent.

Rosborough went through the entirety of Molner’s case back to 2005 in reviewing the motions. In the end, Rosborough wrote that "the defendant is malingering." Molner’s silence was called a defensive tactic rather than "the kind of mental illness which equals legal incompetence."

In fact, ordering a competency declaration "would reward and reinforce the defendant’s tactical maneuvers."

Key points in Rosborough’s decision were instances that showed Molner’s silence was "selective mutism."

Molner grew up in an Amish community, Rosborough wrote. After he was arrested in 2005, he communicated with the court about issues such as bail bond and acquiring legal counsel. After he was turned over to federal authorities for the bank robbery charges, also a federal offense, Molner became mute and did not cooperate with a competency evaluation. Rosborough said the federal competency examination led professionals to consider Molner a "diagnostic puzzle" because they couldn’t determine if he was being mute on purpose. Federal authorities found him incompetent and he was released from custody in 2007.

"In early 2009, (Gaskell) discovered that the defendant was not under civil commitment and was in fact actively engaging in self-representation in a child custody proceeding in North Carolina state court," Rosborough wrote.

That’s when Gaskell had Molner arrested to face bank robbery charges in Wisconsin.

Rosborough wrote evidence has been established that Molner had "no difficulty" communicating with authorities who brought him from North Carolina to Wisconsin also that Molner "cold communicate with law enforcement, fellow inmates and jail staff when he chose to do so."

At a hearing in May, a friend of Molner’s told the court that Molner "was choosing - literally - to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent," Rosborough wrote.

"History is replete with criminal cases where defendants far more notorious or infamous than this defendant have attempted to thwart justice by engaging in disruptive tactics…," Rosborough wrote. "The fact that this defendant’s tactics are passive, rather than aggressive, makes no difference - they are tactics nonetheless."

A status conference is scheduled in Molner’s case for Monday, Nov. 30, at 1 p.m.