Tulsa murder defendant's rights violated, her lawyers say
BY BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
Friday, February 01, 2013
2/01/13 at 5:47 AM
Defense attorneys are seeking to persuade a judge to suppress as evidence the recorded statements of Amber Michelle Hilberling, who is accused of murdering her husband by pushing him out a window in a Tulsa high-rise building.
A motion filed this week by lawyers April Seibert and Jasen Corns asserts that actions by Tulsa police "clearly violated" Hilberling's constitutional rights against self-incrimination.
A prosecutor maintains that voluntary statements made by Hilberling to her grandmother, which were recorded or overheard by police, are admissible evidence.
The statements were made in places - a police car and a police interrogation room, although there was no interrogation - where Hilberling had no reasonable expectation of privacy, according to Assistant District Attorney Michelle Keely.
At a hearing Thursday, Tulsa County District Judge Kurt Glassco said he will rule March 1 on the motion to suppress the statements. That is 10 days before the scheduled start of Hilberling's trial.
Joshua Hilberling, 23, died June 7, 2011, when he fell 17 stories from the University Club Apartments at 1722 S. Carson Ave. to the top of a parking garage.
Amber Hilberling, now 21, is in the Tulsa Jail.
She is charged with second-degree murder based on an accusation that she pushed her husband, causing him to fall through the window and to his death.
The prosecution filed an alternative charge of first- degree manslaughter, involving an allegation that the death occurred while she was committing a misdemeanor domestic assault and battery.
Tulsa Police Officer Don Holloway transported Amber Hilberling and her grandmother to the Detective Division when Hilberling was a witness and not a suspect, Holloway indicated.
He testified Thursday that he heard Hilberling say that "nobody was going to believe her" and that "she had pushed Josh."
Original Print Headline: Lawyers: Defendant's rights violated
Bill Braun 918-581-8455
bill.braun@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Amber Michelle Hilberling: She is accused of murdering her husband, Josh Hilberling, by pushing him out a window of the University Club Apartments, where he fell 17 stories to the top of a parking garage. A motion filed this week by defense attorneys asserts that Tulsa police "clearly violated" her constitutional rights against self-incrimination
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