Sarah Boone takes stand in suitcase murder hearing as lawyers argue over evidence

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Published  October 2, 2024 7:56pm EDT
FOX 35 Orlando
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Sarah Boone takes stand in suitcase murder hearing

Sarah Boone, the woman accused of killing her boyfriend by trapping him in a suitcase in 2020, was in court Wednesday. This court appearance was because the Defense wants Boone’s interview with detectives excluded from the case.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Sarah Boone, the woman accused of killing her boyfriend by trapping him in a suitcase in 2020, was in court Wednesday. 

This court appearance was because the defense wanted Boone’s interview with detectives excluded from the case. In that interview, Sarah Boone repeatedly said the death was an accident.

That had been Boone’s first eight attorneys’ legal argument, but Boone’s new attorney – the ninth to work on this case – said a couple of weeks ago that he intends to pursue a battered spouse defense.

Since the narrative that she was acting in self-defense doesn’t quite line up with the claim that the death was an accident, Boone’s lawyers want the jurors to proceed as though the interview never happened.

To make the argument that the interview should be tossed from court, Boone’s lawyers claimed the lead homicide detective didn’t properly warn Boone that what she was saying during her interrogation could be used against her in court.

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"I was very confused, I was very hazy," Boone said while on the stand Wednesday. "I was in shock. I was traumatized by the situation.

The detective did read Boone her Miranda rights: You have the right to remain silent; anything you say may be used against you in court; you have the right to talk to a lawyer before and during questioning without charge; if you cannot afford a lawyer and want one, one can be provided for you before questioning without charge."

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office gives its deputies a specific card to read from, which lists those rights. Their card includes an even more thorough rendering, having them ask things such as, "Has anyone threatened you or promised you anything to get you to talk to me?" and "Do you understand what I just read to you."

However, the sheriff’s office policy includes a Miranda rights card with an extra line: "Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?"

The detective didn’t read that.

But it wasn’t done maliciously; Lead Homicide Detective Chelsey Koepsell says it wasn’t on the Miranda Rights card provided to her by the Sheriff’s Office.

"Did you fail to get the most updated card?" Boone’s attorney, James Owens, asked Detective Koepsell in court Wednesday. "How did that happen? That the ninth question was not on your Miranda Rights card?"

"I’ve had that card since I started being a detective in sex crimes," said Koepsell. 

The defense has another angle on this too, that Boone didn’t realize she was going to the Sheriff’s Office to be interrogated and then arrested, and was led there under false pretenses. 

She said Detective Koepsell had originally told Boone that deputies would return her phone after a search. Later, Boone said Detective Koepsell called her, asking her to come to the station to pick up her phone, which would be easier for the pregnant detective. 

"Did you believe at the time the sole reason you were going there was to pick up your phone?" Owens asked Boone.

"Correct," Boone answered. 

The defense said that equates to coercion, writing in their motion that Boone "believed at the time that she had to speak with the detective."

The state argues it doesn’t matter why Boone initially thought she was going to the sheriff’s office, and it doesn’t matter whether the department’s policy was adhered to. She was read her Miranda Rights, and that’s that. 

"What matters is, the defendant was read what the case law requires," the prosecutor told the judge. 

The judge agreed. However, he chose to wait a day before issuing a verdict on whether the interview could be included in the trial. 

Boone is accused of second-degree murder. Her trial starts Monday.

If she’s convicted, the state said she would face a minimum of 22 years in prison.

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