KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Navy seaman’s videotaped confession to the killing of an officer 33 years ago should be suppressed because it was not voluntary, a federal magistrate has recommended.
Michael LeBrun faces federal murder charges in the 1968 death of Andrew Muns while their ship, the USS Cacapon, was anchored in the Philippines. Muns, a payroll officer, was never found, and more than $8,000 was missing from the ship’s safe.
The investigation was reopened three years ago at the urging of Mun’s sister.
Prosecutors said LeBrun gave a videotaped confession in September 2000, but on Friday U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Hays advised District Judge Dean Whipple not to let jurors see the tape. Whipple must still rule on the recommendation.
Hays said the confession was not voluntary and had been prompted by the investigators’ emotional pressure tactics and broad promises not to prosecute.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said prosecutors plan to ask Whipple to reverse the magistrate. Investigators testified last spring that LeBrun’s confession was crucial to the case.
LeBrun said at a hearing in April that he confessed only after receiving assurances that he would not be prosecuted.
"They made a promise to me that I would not be prosecuted for first-degree murder, manslaughter or jaywalking," he said.
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