Key-El v. State

We granted certiorari to consider the following question: Should a defendant’s silence in the face of incriminating accusations be admissible against him as substantive evidence of guilt when those accusations were made prior to his arrest but in the presence of the police?

The Court of Special Appeals held that as a matter of Maryland evidence law, evidence of Petitioner’s silence falls within an exception to the hearsay rule and was admissible as a tacit admission by silence. The majority of this Court agrees, and affirms the intermediate appellate court. Both courts concluded that…