State v. Easter

— Patrick Easter was involved in a serious automobile accident in which he and four others were injured. Prior to his arrest, Easter chose not to answer a police officer’s questions as to what happened and whether he had been drinking. At trial, despite a pretrial order preventing any questions by the State on Easter’s alleged evasiveness in response to the officer’s questions, the officer was permitted to testify as to Easter’s pre-arrest silence in the State’s case in chief. In closing argument, the prosecution repeatedly characterized Easter’s silence as that of a "smart drunk” and made it…