Read Sarah Boone's 58-page letter to Orange County judge ahead of Florida suitcase murder trial
Sarah Boone will have to represent herself in murder trial: judge
Sarah Boone, the Florida woman accused of killing her boyfriend by locking him inside a suitcase at their Winter Park home during an alleged game of hide-and-seek, has forfeited her right to any more court-appointed defense lawyers – and will now have to represent herself at her trial, according to the judge overseeing her case.
A Florida judge ruled recently that Sarah Boone has forfeited her right to counsel and will likely have to represent herself at her upcoming trial, where she is charged with second-degree murder in the 2020 death of her then boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr.
The Florida woman is accused of locking her boyfriend inside a suitcase during an alleged drunken game of hide-and-seek at their Winter Park home. Boone has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. She told deputies that she "passed out" upstairs after drinking wine and awoke hours later to find Torres Jr. unresponsive in the suitcase. He was later declared dead.
Boone has had eight defense lawyers over the last four years, seven of them appointed by the court to represent her. Most eventually asked the judge to be withdrawn from the case due to irreconcilable differences with Boone over her defense. Some exited due to conflicts of interest. Boone has also accused her various lawyers of not working with her, not being available, not having certain documents or evidence, or of lying to her.
You can read Sarah Boone's letters and court order below:
- Order allowing court-appointed attorney to withdraw
- Sarah Boone's 58-page letter to the judge
- Sarah Boone's 5-page letter to the judge
At one of her most recent hearings, Boone submitted a 58-page handwritten letter to the judge with a list of questions, complaints, and critiques regarding how her case has allegedly been handled in the court system. You can read the entire letter embedded below.
"I should feel secure, highly confident, proud in her ‘representing’ my life," Boone wrote in her letter about her attorney. "I do not and have said to her many times regarding her monumental disbelief in me and my case, which I believe contributes greatly to her inimical attitude towards me."
"I am hoping by this letter she will pick up the sword of injustice and fight alongside me, not against me as so many unmotivated, overwhelmed, weak attorneys prior who bowed out ungracefully, and crept away from the battlefield unsuccessfully," Boone said.
In response, Patricia Cashman, Boone's 8th attorney, told the judge that she had spent some 20 hours with Boone – and accused Boone of walking out of two of their conferences.
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Boone admits to that in her letter, saying she was uncomfortable discussing her case over a telephone conference with "all ears" inmates around.
"I AM NOT THE PROBLEM EXCEPT THAT I WANT TO AND SHOULD BE TREATED FAIRLY, WITH RESPECT, ACTING MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN THE PAID, ‘I’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR OVER 40 YEARS' ‘PROFESSIONAL,'" Boone said in her letter.
"After so long and in all the experience, common courtesy, customer service and listening skills should have been acquired," she said.
Boone then ends the letter with a glossary of legal definitions, and passages from the Declaration of Independence and the Florida state constitution.
Boone's trial is scheduled for Oct. 7 and the judge said he would not delay the trial for any reason, including if Boone hires a private attorney, barring "extraordinarily good cause." A trial management conference is set for September.