Defense Seeks Man's Statements Tossed In 2011 Slaying Of Girlfriend In Vineland Home
VINELAND, N.J. (AP) - The attorney for a New Jersey man just sentenced to prison in the death of one girlfriend is trying to have prosecutors barred from using his statements to investigators in the slaying of another girlfriend in 2011. Daniel Brennan, sentenced last week to 15 years on an aggravated manslaughter plea in the July 2018 death of 31-year-old Leeann Foltrauer in Pitman, is now facing charges in the death of 24-year-old Courtney Allen, who was found in the basement of her Vineland home on New Year's Eve 2011.
Prosecutors said the two had a 2-year-old child together and Allen also was six months pregnant with Brennan's baby at the time of her murder. Prosecutors said Allen was killed by "asphyxia due to neck compressions" and her body had been moved and "repositioned" prior to the arrival of police.
Authorities say that Brennan, 34, gave contradictory statements in three interviews in that case. Defense attorney Kimberly Schultz wants those statements suppressed, saying her client wasn't advised of his rights even though he was "clearly a suspect and was clearly being interrogated."
"This was not simply a fact-finding mission or community policing, they knew all the relevant facts and were waiting for Mr. Brennan to say something incriminating," Schultz wrote in her motion.
Cumberland County Assistant Prosecutor Lesley Snock, however, said Miranda warnings weren't administrated prior to his first interview on the day the body was discovered because the cause of death hadn't been determined and it was suspected that she may have died from medical issues reported by her family.
"Here, the status of the defendant at the time of the interview was that of a potential witness," Snock said, adding that Brennan was free to leave at any time. Miranda warnings were issued for his second and third interviews in January 2012, Snock said, and Brennan waived his rights
Under terms of the plea agreement, Brennan's sentence in Foltrauer's death will be served concurrently to any sentence in the 2011 Cumberland County case.
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