S.N. v. State

CONFESSION OF ERROR

The State properly concedes that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence testimony by the arresting officers regarding the respondent’s post-arrest silence. This testimony was irrelevant and highly prejudicial. See United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171, 95 S.Ct. 2133, 45 L.Ed.2d 99 (1975) (post-arrest silence is too ambiguous to be probative of anything because it is susceptible of several explanations other than the arrestee’s consciousness of guilt). In addition, this testimony constituted an impermissible comment on the respondent’s right to remain silent, in…