The fine line prosecutors must walk when introducing evidence or making reference to a defendant’s pre-arrest silence was on display in two plurality decisions issued by the state Supreme Court late last month.
The justices issued decisions Nov. 20 in the cases of Commonwealth v. Molina and Commonwealth v. Adams, both of which involve nontestifying defendants who argued that references to their pre-arrest silence violated their rights. The court, in both decisions, was split 3-2, as both Justice Correale F. Stevens and former Justice Seamus P. McCaffery did not participate in the rulings.
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