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Criminal law Section Co-Chairs: AmyCasanova-Ward – FloridaDept. ofFinancialServices & LilyM. McCarty – Hines & McCarty, PLLC
duringtheinterviews, the detectivesmadedozens ofcommentstomackey accusingheroflyingand indicatingthattheyknew shewasinvolvedin Saffore’ smurder.
On December 12, 2025, the Fifth District Cout of Appeal filed an Opinion on the case of Kissy Terice Jovan Mackey v. State of Florida, 2025 WL 3558157, Case no. 5D2024-1538.
The Facts of the Case are as Follows: On August 3, 2021, Detective Jeno Weaver responded to a homicide at a residence in Jacksonville. Weaver, who was the lead homicide detective, learned that the deceased person was Saffore, that there was a fire at the residence, and that Mackey was an eyewitness. Weaver subsequently developed Russell Brown as a suspect based on evidence found at the scene. Brown was charged and eventually convicted of first-degree murder. Id at 1.
Over the course of the investigation into Brown, law enforcement learned that Mackey and Brown were in a romantic relationship. Mackey also gave several conflicting and misleading
statements about her conduct and observations on the night Saffore was killed. As a result, Mackey was formally interviewed by law enforcement on two separate occasions. These interviews were recorded and ultimately played for the jury in Mackey’ s trial. Id at 1.
During the interviews, the detectives made dozens of comments to Mackey accusing her of lying and indicating that they knew she was involved in Saffore’ s murder. These comments included statements such as,“ your lies are starting to come apart,”“ you are lying,”“ everything you told us is a lie,”“ we can tell that you’ re lying,”“ you’ ve engaged in a pattern of lying,” and“ we know you are lying.” Mackey’ s counsel did not object to each of these statements, but when an objection was made, the court ruled that the series of statements from the officers accusing Mackey
of engaging in a pattern of lying was admissible. Id at 1.
Mackey was convicted at trial by amended information with being an accessory after-the-fact to capital murder by knowingly giving false information to law enforcement concerning the murder of Mackey’ s boyfriend, Kelvin Saffore. Id at 1. On appeal, Mackey argued that the court committed reversible error when it allowed the State to introduce a lengthy videotape of her police interview in which the investigating officers repeatedly expressed their personal opinions about her guilt and that they believed she was lying. Id at 1.
In response, the State argued that any error was harmless because: Mackey was resolute that she was not lying; the court’ s instruction was adequate; and the
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