A Florida woman, charged with second-degree murder for asphyxiating her boyfriend in a suitcase, asked the judge to allow her to get her hair and makeup done professionally before her trial. This unusual plea was made by the defendant Sarah Boone during a pre-trial hearing in which she said that she wanted to dress appropriately for court. Nevertheless, the judge rejected her plea due to security issues and other considerations about such arrangements for a defendant with serious charges.
According to the Court TV report, at first, the judge agreed for her legal team to allow her to apply makeup after she had entered the courtroom, but the Orange County Sheriff’s Office intervened and said that they had security issues tied to makeup, which is considered a prohibited substance at the jail. Therefore, the motion was dismissed.
About the incident leading to Boone’s arrest, it happened at their Winter Park apartment on February 25, 2020, after binge drinking.
According to the Mirror, during police interrogation, Boone said that after starting the hide-and-seek game with her boyfriend, they were both extremely drunk and she went to bed for about 30 minutes. She said she thought her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr, had come out of the suitcase. Boone also said that she believed he was downstairs when she did not see him next to her the following morning. She went down at around 11 in the morning to find him.
Investigators, as per Daily Mail, discovered a video in Boone’s phone that recorded Torres begging to be released from the suitcase, with him shouting “I can’t f***ing breathe” to which Boone paid no attention.
News Week reports that Boone has been in and out of court facing different charges since her arrest and she has changed lawyers many times because of conflict and disagreement. Currently, she is representing herself in the court after having elected to dispense legal counsel. Boone is awaiting trial with allegations that she suffered from battered spouse syndrome and that she was compelled to answer questions to the police without having been given her Miranda rights.
In the course of the trial preparations, Boone’s conduct in jail attracted the attention of the authorities as she became rebellious and contravened the rules by embellishing her prison dress using staples, which are prohibited. Nonetheless, she continues to look for tactics to put herself in good stead in court.
The trial is expected to start on October 7, 2024. If convicted of second-degree murder, Boone could receive a life imprisonment sentence.
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