State v. Clark

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Schroeder, C.J.:

This is an appeal from a jury verdict which found Elgit Clark (defendant-appellant) guilty of one count of felony theft (K.S.A. 21-3701) and one count of burglary (K.S.A. 21-3715).

The issue raised on appeal is whether a state prosecutor may impeach a defendant’s alibi defense, told for the first time at trial, by cross-examining him as to his post-arrest silence after receiving the Miranda warning and commenting on such silence during closing argument, when the defendant carried on limited discussion with police after arrest, but was…