The Florida Supreme Court has stated the obvious: A suspect’s silence may not be golden, but it’s not incriminating either.
Yet the court’s May 5 ruling expands a state constitutional protection. In a high-profile murder case from Jupiter, the justices decided Donna Horwitz, convicted of fatally shooting her ex-husband Lanny Horwitz, should get a new trial because prosecutors used her pre-Miranda silence against her. When she declined to testify, they spun her muteness as guilt, and a West Palm Beach jury convicted her.
