Harvard Law Grad/Kidnapping Suspect Missed Key Lesson In Crim Pro

Kidnapping suspect learns a lesson he must have missed at Harvard Law...

Remember that weird case — referred to by many media outlets as the Gone Girl case — where Denise Huskins was kidnapped then returned to her family before the ransom was due. Law enforcement immediately claimed it was a hoax, except it totally wasn’t and authorities arrested a Harvard Law educated immigration attorney named Matthew Muller in connection with the crime.

We are getting a closer look into Muller’s legal skills and they aren’t inspiring. While his lawyers are wrangling over the admissibility of key physical evidence in the case, the government isn’t sweating it — see, they have an ace up their sleeve.

As Wired reports, the government has a recording of Muller’s confession. An enterprising local reporter went to visit Muller in jail, and, according to the FBI, during the course of this jailhouse conversation Muller confessed. Though he stipulated to the reporter the conversation was “off the record and on background,” as you’ve probably guessed by now (especially if you recall anything from criminal procedure — or even your most basic of crime TV shows) that caveat means nothing to the government.

[H]is “off-the-record” confession [to a reporter] could prove critical to the prosecution. Some courts have ruled that reporters have a limited privilege to refuse to testify or turn over notes about off-the-record interviews, but that’s the extent of the protection afforded by the law. And as an inmate, Muller has no legally recognized right to privacy in his conversations with visitors.

“When you speak on the telephone or in interview rooms, there are signs, and you’re notified that visits are recorded,” [lawyer for the victim Douglas] Rappaport says. “Speak at your own peril. Even if he goes off the record, that means that the reporter can’t publish what he states. The feds are entitled to use whatever he says.”

Remember your expectation to privacy when in jail is even less than your expectation to privacy when using Ashley Madison.

‘Gone Girl’ Suspect Confesses to Reporter—As FBI Listens In [Wired]

Harvard Law Graduate Arrested In Strange Kidnapping Scheme

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