ORLANDO, Fla. (Court TV) — While Sarah Boone searches for her ninth attorney, a judge said she must represent herself in the meantime.
Earlier this month, Judge Michael Kraynick ruled that Boone’s conduct was so outrageous that she had forfeited her right to an attorney. The ruling was in response to Boone’s eighth attorney’s motion to withdraw, and Kraynick noted that each of the previous attorneys on Boone’s case had similar complaints.
A letter filed July 18, 2024 includes a handwritten ad by Sarah Boone seeking her ninth attorney. (Court TV)
On Thursday, Boone was brought to court to represent herself at a hearing that had been scheduled the day before. The hearing outlined that a court-provided private investigator would handle obtaining discovery for Boone while she is in custody at the Orange County Jail.
Boone questioned why she was brought to court without prior notice, to which Kraynick said he had “no other way” of getting in touch with Boone other than to schedule a hearing.
During proceedings, she continuously asked why everyone, including “the news crews,” knew of the “surprise hearing” before her.
In a letter filed July 18, Boone wrote to the court asking for discovery in the case. That letter also included a handwritten ad for an attorney, teasing that an “epic opportunity awaits” for the potential attorney.
WATCH | Sarah Boone Writes Letter With ‘Want Ad’ Requesting New Attorney
Boone’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 7. Kraynick has pledged it will move forward and “will not be continued for any reason, except by extraordinarily good cause, and such extraordinarily good cause shall not include retention of counsel by the defendant.”
Boone is charged with second-degree murder and faces a potential sentence of life in prison if she’s found guilty of killing her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, who was found zipped inside a suitcase in Feb. 2020. Boone has admitted to zipping Torres in the bag but has maintained that his death was an accident and the result of a game of “hide-and-seek” gone wrong.
