Crime & Safety

Trial for Alleged Bathtub Murderer Set for October

Trial follows nearly yearlong Miranda hearing for Kleber Cordova.

Following a pre-trial hearing that lasted nearly a year, the trial for the Morristown man who admitted to police he had drowned his wife in the bathtub of their Western Avenue apartment in 2008 is finally scheduled to begin.

A trial date of Oct. 11 for Kleber Cordova was set earlier this month. Jury selection for the over three-year-old case will begin at that time.

The pre-trial hearing for Cordova, an Ecuadoran immigrant who has lived in this country illegally, began last summer. At issue had been whether his Miranda rights had been violated by authorities during the initial investigation following his confession to police that he had drowned his wife, Eliana Torres, in their 85 Western Ave. apartment bathtub on May 8, 2008.

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Thomas V. Manahan, the judge presiding over the case, concluded in June that the prosecution may not introduce as evidence Cordova’s video-recorded confession of drowning his wife in their apartment. He said the confession is inadmissible because Cordova, who speaks little to no English, had asked to have an attorney present during another interrogation the night before, but an attorney had not been provided.

The defense had argued since last summer that Cordova had his Miranda rights violated after he'd confessed to drowning his wife after she had admitted to seeing another man. The defense had argued that Cordova's confession to killing his wife should be thrown out because Cordova asked for an attorney during that questioning, a request that was not at that time granted. 

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The prosecution had said Cordova's Miranda rights had not been violated and that it was the state's opinion that each statement he made along the way was made voluntarily.


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