The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court is weighing whether prosecutors violated a convicted sex offender’s constitutional rights by telling a jury he refused to talk to police without a lawyer.
Thomas Leach says previous court rulings have warned prosecutors against the practice, saying it implies offenders are guilty because they have something to hide.
Prosecutors cite other rulings that allowed people’s silence to be presented as evidence. They argue that jurors should be able to weigh the silence along with other factors.
Leach was convicted in Hamilton County last year of attempted rape, gross sexual imposition and kidnapping.
The issue before the state Supreme Court arose after Leach appealed his conviction because a detective testified before a jury that Leach asked for an attorney following his August 2001 arrest.
A state appeals court sided with Leach, saying prosecutors wrongly presented the information to the jury.
Prosecutors “for no reason other than to imply guilt, informed the jury that Leach would not speak to the police without his counsel,” the 1st Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision last year.