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- NATION, Page 27American NotesCRIMEScot Free -- For Now
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- At first police thought a thief had murdered Army Specialist
- Anthony Riggs, who was shot in Detroit within days of his
- return from the gulf. But then the plot twisted when suspicion
- fell on Riggs' wife Toni and her brother Michael Cato, who were
- accused of killing Riggs to collect his $175,000 life insurance
- policy. Last week Judge Vesta Svenson dismissed the murder
- charge against Toni Riggs, ruling that Cato's confession could
- not be used as evidence against her because it violated her
- Sixth Amendment right to confront her accuser.
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- Riggs' freedom may be short-lived. She can be charged
- again if her brother testifies against her in his own trial, if
- new evidence is brought or if Judge Svenson's ruling is
- overturned. Says Wayne County prosecutor George Ward, who will
- appeal the ruling: "We think even without that confession there
- was sufficient circumstantial evidence to bind her over."
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