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Prosecutors inappropriately suggested the defendant’s exercise of his constitutional right to silence meant he was guilty.
DENVER — A teenager convicted of murder will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court determined on Thursday that Arapahoe County prosecutors inappropriately used the defendant’s constitutional right to silence as evidence of his guilt.
Jurors convicted Marquez Woodruff in 2019 of fatally shooting Terry Capler in the latter’s Aurora home. Woodruff, who was 16 at the time of the killing, argued he acted in defense of himself and his girlfriend. He is currently serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Although the defense did not object to the prosecution’s conduct at trial, Woodruff argued on appeal that the prosecutors, at various points, suggested to jurors that Woodruff’s refusal to explain himself to police was a sign his “story” was not credible.
A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals agreed the prosecutors’ commentary broke a clearly established rule against penalizing a defendant for taking advantage of his constitutional protections.
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