MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A judge won’t consider written testimony from a man who claims he was unaware of his legal rights when he allegedly confessed to killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.
SOURCE: CNN/POOL
Judge Joel Yates ruled Thursday that he will not allow lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera to submit a written affidavit from their client unless he agrees to submit to cross-examination by prosecutors.
Lawyers for Rivera, who is charged with murder, say they won’t allow him to testify. Yates rejected the affidavit.
Yates is considering a defense motion to suppress statements Rivera made during an interrogation in August 2018 in which he implicated himself in Tibbetts’ death. She disappeared a month earlier while running.
Rivera says in the affidavit that he was unaware of certain rights and scared to invoke others.
SOURCE: WOI-DT
