Balfour v. State

FLETCHER, Judge.

Anthony L. Balfour was charged with first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and armed burglary. Prior to trial, the defense moved to suppress Balfour’s confession and certain physical evidence discovered pursuant to a consent search of Balfour’s home. The defense argued that Balfour is of low I.Q. and nearly illiterate, thus neither voluntarily waived his Miranda rights nor truly consented to the search. In support of its argument the defense presented an expert witness who testified that Balfour had only a rudimentary understanding of his rights.

The State…