The Arizona Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a man found guilty of violent felonies nearly four years ago.
A panel found errors occurred in the courtroom, which let the jury believe that Giovani Melendez having not answered some police questions meant he was hiding the truth.
One of the Miranda warnings is the right to stay silent while being questioned by police. Melendez did not answer certain questions from a detective about a shooting.
Then his defense lawyer didn’t object when Melendez was cross-examined at trial about not answering those questions. And the prosecutor urged the jury to hold Melendez accountable for his selective silence.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said at a news conference on Wednesday that she respects the panel's opinion that these were fundamental errors.
“We’re going to look at (the case) in terms of whether we should proceed to a higher level, or whether we should re-prosecute it, or if we have enough evidence to," Mitchell said.
The appellate panel found that references to Melendez not answering the detective were brief, but his self-defense claim depended mostly on his credibility.
