Florida woman accused of murdering boyfriend in suitcase begs judge for professional hair and makeup
By Olivia Land,
4 hours ago
She wanted to be ready for her close-up.
A Florida woman accused of suffocating her boyfriend inside a locked suitcase raised eyebrows Wednesday when she requested professional hair and makeup for her upcoming murder trial.
A judge was initially going to allow Sarah Boone, 46, to have makeup applied by her legal team once she was already in the courtroom, CourtTV reported.
The motion was denied, however, when the Orange County Sheriff’s Office explained that they had security concerns about the cosmetics, which are considered contraband in jail, the outlet said.
Sarah Boone requested to have her hair and makeup done for her murder trial set to start next week. CourtTV
Boone was in court Wednesday for pre-trial proceedings ahead of jury selection, which is scheduled to start on Monday.
She is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the 2020 suffocation death of her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, 42, at their Winter Park apartment.
Boone claimed that Torres was killed during an alcohol-fueled game of hide-and-seek, while investigators claim that videos from her phone showed that she trapped him inside a suitcase while he begged to be let out.
Boone can supposedly be heard laughing in one video as Torres calls out her name and says he can’t breathe.
“Yeah that’s what you do when you choke me,” Boone said in one of the videos.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Boone’s new defense attorney argued to have two hours of interview footage between his client and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office thrown out, FOX35 reported .
In the interview shortly after her arrest, Boone repeatedly told investigators that Torres’ death was an accident – which was also the legal argument put forward by Boone’s first eight attorneys , the outlet said.
But Boone’s ninth lawyer, James Owens, said a few weeks ago that he plans to pursue a battered partner defense, which does not line up with her comments in the interview.
Boone is accused of suffocating her boyfriend by trapping him inside a zipped suitcase.
Boone took the stand herself during the hearing on Wednesday, as the lawyers on both sides jockeyed over whether the footage should be admitted at trial.
“I was very confused, I was very hazy,” Boone said of the interview.
“I was in shock. I was traumatized by the situation.”
The Orange County detective in the video can be heard reading Boone her Miranda rights off a card, but Owens zeroed in on the fact that they did not include the extra line “Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?,” FOX35 said.
The question is not part of the official Miranda rights, but was part of the script required by Sheriff’s Office policy.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Lead Homicide Detective Chelsey Koepsell said that question simply was not on the Miranda card provided to her by the sheriff’s office.
“I’ve had that card since I started being a detective in sex crimes,” Koepsell said.
Jorge Torres suffocated to death in 2020. Good Life Funeral Home & Cremation
Owens also argued that Boone did not realize she was going to the Sheriff’s Office to be interrogated, and that she was lured there under false pretenses.
Detective Koepsell supposedly called Boone to say the detectives were done searching her phone, and asking her to come by the sheriff’s office to pick it up.
On the stand on Wednesday, Boone claimed that she believed the only reason she was going to the office was to get her property, and that she did not anticipate being questioned.
Boone was arrested for murder in 2020. Her trial starts next week. Orange County Sheriff's Office
The defense argued that this was tantamount to coercion.
The prosecution, however, countered that it did not matter why Boone thought she was going to the sheriff’s office.
They also noted that she ultimately read her Miranda rights, even though the detective left out an extra question.
The judge agreed with the state’s analysis, but chose to wait one day before issuing a decision on whether the interview could be included at trial, FOX35 said.
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