Eastern District of California Blog

Vallejo To Pay $2.5 Million Settlement After Accusing Couple of Abduction Hoax

A couple reached a $2.5 million settlement with a Northern California city and its police department after investigators dismissed the woman's elaborate and bizarre kidnapping as a hoax.

Police in the city of Vallejo initially discounted a report by Denise Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, that a masked intruder drugged them in their home and then kidnapped her in 2015.

Sac Bee, 3/16/18

EDCA Court rejects defense challenge to "search" of cellphone in Vallejo kidnapping case

A judge in Sacramento refused Thursday to toss out the evidence in the bizarre March 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins in Vallejo, saying police did not overstep their bounds when they used the suspect’s cellphone to track him down in a separate burglary case.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley leaves the case against Matthew Muller, a former attorney and U.S. Marine, intact and on schedule for a jury trial set for Jan. 30.

Sacramento Bee

Vallejo kidnap suspect claims search of cellphone was illegal

From the Sacramento Bee,

The March 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins in Vallejo made headlines worldwide when police mistakenly labeled it a hoax, then admitted that it happened – complete with bizarre details involving the use of drones, sedatives and disguises.

Now, the case may get even stranger.

 

Tom Johnson, the Sacramento attorney representing suspect Matthew Muller, is headed to court this week seeking to have all the evidence against Muller tossed out, which would scuttle the case.

Johnson’s argument is based on the claim that Muller, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Marine who served in Afghanistan, was arrested solely because he left his cellphone behind when he fled from a home he had broken into, and that police found it and searched it illegally to find out who owned it.

The search was conducted by Dublin police when Muller broke into the home months after the Huskins abduction, then executed a hasty retreat when the homeowner fought back.

 “This search was warrantless, unlawful and all the evidence obtained after the search should be suppressed,” Johnson wrote in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in April. “The search was the genesis of the entire investigation against Mr. Muller.

 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article84916032.html#storylink=cpy

 

Status Conference in Vallejo Kidnapping Case

Accused Vallejo kidnapper Matthew Muller made a brief appearance Thursday in federal court in Sacramento, but had his case pushed back six weeks as lawyers disclosed that a mountain of electronic and other evidence has been collected so far.

Muller, 38, is being held without bail in the Sacramento County jail. He appeared in court Thursday with his attorney, Tom Johnson, but did not speak.

U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley scheduled the next hearing for Dec. 17 after Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Segal said prosecutors and the defense were still working out details of evidence in the case.

Sac Bee, 11/5/15

Vallejo Kidnapping Indictment

Here is the Vallejo kidnapping case indictment.

Vallejo Kidnapper Appears In EDCA Court

The last time Matthew Daniel Muller had a case in Sacramento federal court, the Harvard-trained defense attorney was handling a deportation matter filed in 2011.

On Monday, the Orangevale man made another appearance, this time as a defendant in a kidnapping case. He sat shackled at his waist and ankles as his parents and friends looked on in shock from the spectator gallery.

Muller, 38, is accused in the bizarre kidnap of a 29-year-old Vallejo woman in March. He made his initial appearance Monday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire. He was taken to the Sacramento County Jail afterward and ordered to return to court Oct. 5.

Sacramento Bee, 9/19/15