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Free Leon Walker! Oakland County prosecutors overstep authority in spousal snooping case
Published: Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 9:35 AM


Leon Walker, a 33-year-old Rochester Hills resident, faces up to five years in jail because he read his wife Clara’s email. And discovered she was cheating on him. With her former husband.

Whatever was actually going on in the Walker household, one thing is abundantly clear: If Oakland County law enforcement and prosecutors have time to handle this case then Brooks Patterson needs to – in the interest of public safety – reassign some of these people to Oakland County’s understaffed road crews.

Laura Berman expressed what is likely the conventional wisdom on this case in her Detroit News column this morning. Leon Walker was wrong, but not really that wrong.

Dec. 28, Detroit News: At its best, Leon Walker's behavior was likely inappropriate and perhaps obnoxious.

But Clara Walker's behavior wasn't great either.


Why were Leon Walker’s actions inappropriate, exactly? Why is it necessary to equivocate a defense?

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper accuses him of “hacking” but it’s not as though the guy was trolling Gawker for passwords or implanting a virus on a corporate network. Dude checked his wife’s email.

And yes, his actions prove he has the technical ability to engage in even more nefarious hacking. Of course, I have the physical ability to chop up my neighbor with a machete but (promise) I’m no more likely to do that than Leon Walker is likely to steal your credit card information from Amazon.

Sex columnist Dan Savage, no one’s idea of a prudish busybody, makes a compelling argument that spousal snooping isn’t only not obnoxious but normal behavior.

April 8, The Stranger: Expecting your partner not to snoop is like expecting your partner not to fart or fantasize about other people. It's a nice thought, JB, but knowing what we know about human nature—and knowing that we ourselves snoop, fart, and fantasize about other people—it's a little unrealistic.

And I'm sorry, but when someone goes snooping and discovers that their partner is doing sex work—or is secretly gay or is sleeping with or visiting lesbian-bondage-themed nightclubs with Michael Steele—then the snooping is retroactively justified.


Consider this case from another angle. If Leon Walker suspected his wife had a drug or gambling problem and (after a bit of digital or analog snooping) discovered she was squirreling away money for her special vice, would anyone find his behavior distasteful?

Good Lord, no.

If Walker’s snooping discovered misappropriated money instead of misappropriated sex, we’d self-righteously prattle on about the legal principles of community property in marriage, how she was technically stealing from the marital pot.

He might even score an invite on Oprah or some equally dreary program to share his heart-breaking story about bravely trying to help his wife fight her addiction.

But Leon Walker’s case is about sex instead of money so Oakland County law enforcement thinks society has a compelling interest in protecting Clara Walker’s right to hide her infidelity from her husband.

That says more about the cops and prosecutors in Oakland County than it does about Leon Walker.


Related topics: Leon Walker
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/12/free_leon_walker_oakland_count.html

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Confirmó así la infidelidad de ella
Un estadounidense podría ser condenado a 5 años por leer los correos de su mujer
Leon Walker, un hombre de 33 años del condado de Oakland (Michigan), ha sido acusado por su mujer de fisgar en su cuenta de Gmail, por lo que podrían caerle cinco años de prisión. Al parecer, Walker sospechaba de una posible infidelidad de su mujer que ratificó gracias a la lectura de los correos.

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2010-12-28
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Portaltic/EP

Leon sospechaba que su mujer le engañaba y por eso entró en la cuenta de correo electrónico de Gmail de ella con su clave, que conocía, en un portátil que compartían. Esto fue motivo de disputa, que añadida a otros problemas conyugales culminó en una demanda de divorcio presentada en febrero de este año y que será efectiva este mes.

La justicia local no ve precedentes legales en este caso, ya que este tipo de demandas fueron presentadas con anterioridad en cuestiones empresariales pero no en el ámbito doméstico. "Va a ser interesante porque no hay respuestas legales claras aquí", ha indicado la abogada de Vermont Frederick Lane al diario local Freepress.

Leon y Clara Walker estaban casados, siendo el tercer matrimonio para ella. Él sospechaba que su mujer le engañaba con su anterior marido, un hombre que había sido detenido en alguna ocasión por agredir a Clara Walker frente a su hijo, fruto del primer matrimonio. Leon Walker decidió espiar el correo de su mujer y cuando descubrió la infidelidad, se lo contó al primer marido de Clara y padre del hijo de ésta.

El remedio fue peor que la enfermedad y la esposa denunció a Leon y pidió el divorcio. Ahora, Leon Walker se enfrenta a una vista por la que podría ser condenado a cinco años por intromisión de la intimidad.

El propio Leon ha declarado a Freepress que él hizo "lo que tenía que hacer: estamos hablando de poner a un niño en peligro". Mientras tanto, la fiscal del Condado ha afirmado que lo considera al parecer todo un hacker. Será un jurado popular el que decida finalmente si la lectura de correos electrónicos de Walker merece cinco años de prisión.

http://www.libertaddigital.com/internet/un-estadounidense-podria-ser-condenado-a-5-anos-por-leer-los-correos-de-su-mujer-1276410535/