Interrogation of Army medic accused in love triangle murder is thrown out
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The most damaging portions of a video interrogation of Army medic Michael Walker will not be shown to the jury.
Federal Judge Susan Mollway made the ruling Thursday, apparently hurting the government's case so severely they filed an appeal to a higher court Friday afternoon. That move has delayed the trial indefinitely.
The video was taken on November 15, 2014, Walker detailed the murder scene he walked into at the Aliamanu Military Reservation home he shared with his wife, Cathy Walker. She had been stabbed multiple times...
"I mean, just judging off of what I remember, it almost looks like she took her own life, but I don't know why she would do that," he tells the military investigator.
His idea that his wife committed suicide takes a dramatic turn when he admits, that he was cheating on her He blamed his lover, Ailsa "Lisa" Jackson who has pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing. Walker is accused of plotting with Jackson to murder his wife.
The interrogation continues and he admits to the affair with her and with multiple others, even taking payment from men for sex.
"I have a problem," he says, "I'm a sex addict." Walker continues, raising his voice, "I'm staying with a frickin' psycho b****...who threatened her life."
The investigator asks, "Threatened your wife's life?"
Walker answers, "Threatened my wife's life because she wanted to be with me and me only. I didn't think she was going to do it."
That was especially damaging because it shows he knew Jackson was planning to kill his wife.
Judge Mollway ruled most of the interrogation violated Walker's civil rights.
"Basically suppressed the entire confession as involuntary and coerced due to abusive police misconduct," explained Walker's attorney Birney Bervar, who says the investigator got Walker's admission by unconstitutional means, "Without reading him his Miranda rights. when he did read him his Miranda rights, he said, 'do you want a lawyer?' My client said 'Yes, I want a lawyer,' he refused to accept that and kept going."
Prosecutors agreed that some parts of the confession should be suppressed but the judge apparently went further than they expected. They are hoping the higher court will allow them to use parts of the video, especially if Walker tells a different story on the stand.
The trial was supposed to start next week, with jury selection on Tuesday. Dozens of potential jurors were expected, even some from the other islands. The appeal could delay the almost three-year case, as much as another year.
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