Thread: TN: Accused killer of former homecoming queen wants statemen

Accused killer of former homecoming queen wants statements tossed

* By Matt Lakin
* Posted November 19, 2009 at 1:48 p.m.

Jennifer Lee Hampton was reported missing from a Days Inn in Knoxville on Sept. 20. Her body was found later, and a motel employee has been charged with first-degree murder.

KNOXVILLE - Defense lawyers want a judge to throw out an illegal immigrant's statement to police in the kidnapping, rape and killing of an Alabama homecoming queen.

Valentino Vasquez Miranda, a native of Mexico, faces charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and abuse of a corpse in the death of Jennifer Hampton, a 21-year-old native of Waterloo, Ala., who came to Knoxville last year to help open a restaurant but never made it home.

Hampton disappeared from her room at the Days Inn on Lovell Road the night of Sept. 20, 2008. Prosecutors say Miranda, who worked at the motel, used a master key to enter Hampton's room to rape and kill her, then dumped her body in Melton Hill Lake.

Miranda speaks no English. His lawyer, Joe Fanduzz, says Miranda didn't understand his constitutional rights when Knoxville Police Department Investigator Steve Still questioned him and asked for a DNA sample.

Police showed up at the motel after Miranda's common-law wife reported finding blood on his clothes. They considered him a murder suspect but initially charged him with forgery instead, based on what investigators called a bogus Social Security card.

Fanduzz told a judge today that means police had no constitutional grounds to question Miranda about the killing.

"Our position is that he was unconstitutionally detained because the police did not have probable cause for the forgery arrest," Fanduzz said.

Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee said he'll wait to rule on the motion until after Dec. 15, when Fanduzz will argue a KPD interpreter wasn't qualified to advise Miranda of his rights.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.

www.knoxnews.com

Grasping at straws, and no ability to speak English. Is this just a ruse to get an alleged murderous criminal illegal alien off with less punishment?

Psalm 139:14

Move to NEW Section for "Americans Killed by Illegals."