'I am thoroughly confused': Suitcase murder defendant is having a rough time representing herself ahead of trial

Sarah Boone in court on July 25, 2024 (Screenshot: WOFL).

Suitcase murder defendant Sarah Boone could be having a way better time representing herself ahead of her trial.

“I am thoroughly confused,” she told Judge Wayne Wooten in a hearing on Thursday, according to Fox’s Orlando affiliate WOFL . She claimed she was caught off guard by the hearing. “If I’m pro se and my own attorney, shouldn’t I be included in all of this, so I know what’s going on and not a surprise hearing like it is again for the second time?””

Wooten voiced little patience for her complaint, however.

“Ma’am, again, this is why there were benefits to being represented by counsel,” he reportedly said. “The court has already identified in its 16-page order the reasons for why you no longer have those benefits. It makes things exceptionally more difficult, as I explained to you in communicating with the court and communicating with the State Attorney’s Office.”

Boone has been representing herself since the end of June against a second-degree murder charge for allegedly trapping her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., in a suitcase and taunting him as he died .

She has gone through eight attorneys in this case, which stretches back to 2020. To be sure, some counsel bowed out while citing ethical considerations. For example, the public defender’s office had to punt because they previously represented Torres in a domestic violence charge in which Boone was the victim. Nonetheless, others like Frank J. Bankowitz, backed off because of friction with the defendant.

“No attorney can satisfy her,” he wrote when leaving the case last year.

Boone voiced disdain, respectively badmouthing both him and her final attorney, Patricia Cashman , as “unprofessional” and having a “snotty attitude.”

Orange County Circuit Judge Michael S. Kraynick showed no sympathy to her, however. He construed Boone as trying to stall the case.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he wrote last month. “Although Defendant’s words seemingly reveal a desire to go to trial, however, as set forth herein, her actions and inability to work with court-appointed counsel, are repeated over and over. Allowing Defendant to her eighth court appointed attorney (her ninth attorney overall) will only serve to delay the case further and encourage Defendant to persist in efforts to prevent the resolution of the case on its merits (the concept of which was first brought Defendant’s attention on May 10, 2022).”

Jump back to Wooten’s courtroom on Thursday. Boone voiced frustration, saying she did not get access to all of the discovery.

“I don’t know if this is something that I need to pursue continuously still for me to be able to receive my hard copies because no one tells me anything,” she said.

“I cannot answer that question because that may call for me providing legal advice, which I am prohibited from doing,” Wooten reportedly said.

Trial is set to begin Oct. 7. Records viewed by Law&Crime show that Wooten on Thursday ordered that discovery provided to the court on June 28 has to be scanned and put onto any necessary number of USB drives for Boone to review in jail. A defense investigative firm, Prison Break Investigations, is scheduled appear in a Aug. 5 status hearing to pass the discovery to a jail representative. Records indicate that the discovery from June 28 fills two boxes.

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