Bless me Father because I have sinned.
A Louisiana woman was convicted of attempted murder after her confession to her pastor was used during her trial, the woman’s attorney says, but a local judge wasn’t buying it.
Peggy Valentine, 44, was convicted by a jury Monday of first-degree attempted home invasion (battery) stemming from a May 2022 incident in which she was found breaking into the other girlfriend’s home. of her fiancé and stabbing the woman during a fight.
Valentine’s attorney claimed that she was visiting on a friendly basis with the other woman, who had recently given birth to a child with Valentine’s fiancé.
“When he found out about the baby, he went to the house with a relative and brought her some clothes,” attorney David Belfield III said, according to WAFB. “In his opinion, they are still trying to resolve the relationship.”
Prosecutors argued that Valentine broke into the house and attacked the woman while she was sleeping in bed, according to WAFB, but his attorney denies that theory.
“There were no signs of forced entry, no broken doors or windows. Someone had to open the door,” Belfield III said according to WAFB.
After the fight took place, Valentine called his pastor, a major with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, who told him he should talk to investigators.
Peggy Valentine was convicted by a jury on Monday of attempted first-degree home invasion (battery) stemming from an incident that occurred in May 2022 in Louisiana. Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office
Valentine voluntarily spoke to the officers because she felt she had only defended herself, Belfield said, but she requested to speak to the clergyman when she felt she was being questioned.
“It was obvious that Peggy had been questioned for a moment. She was very, very distraught at the time. She stopped talking to him, shut down and demanded to speak to her pastor,” Belfield said.
Valentine opened up to her pastor while a sheriff’s deputy remained in the room, and allegedly admitted that she went to the house to find her fiancé with the other woman.
Belfield argued before the judge that the conversation Valentine had with the pastor should be removed from the record because of the “pastor’s privilege,” adding that he never made it clear to Valentine that he was acting as a law enforcement official and not as a religious leader.
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“Are you working as a pastor or deputy? He never told her, ‘Peggy, you have to be careful what you say because I work as a police officer.’ What you say will be used against you,’” Belfield said.
He then argued that the other officer was not supposed to be in the room during the conversation.
“You wouldn’t sit in the room while she talked to her attorney, so why would you sit in the room talking to her pastor?”
Belfield also argued that there are three components to determining pastoral privilege, which is defined as “clergy privilege” in American courts.
“Communication must be carried out either as a formal act of religion or as a matter of conscience; (2) must be made to a clergyman in his capacity as spiritual advisor or to his assistant in his official capacity; and (3) the communication must be intended to be confidential)”
The judge ruled that because the other deputy was in the room, the conversation could not be classified as confidential and then allowed the jury to hear the confession several times.
“In the case of first-degree murder, specific intent must be demonstrated. She went there to check if her man was there. There was no specific intent to murder,” Belfield argued. “If you can’t trust your pastor today, who can you trust?”
Valentine is being held at the Ascension Parish Jail awaiting a pre-sentencing hearing on December 30 and will be sentenced in February 2024.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn