Commonwealth v. Molina

OPINION BY

FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.:

Michael Molina appeals nunc pro tunc from the judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County following his conviction for murder in the third degree and unlawful restraint. Herein, we are asked to determine whether the Commonwealth may urge the jury to use a non-testifying defendant’s pre-arrest, pre-Miranda1 silence as substantive evidence of his guilt. For the following reasons, we conclude it cannot as such an inference is in violation of the constitutional protections afforded by the Fifth Amendment to the United States…