Joran Van Der Sloot Remains Silent at Hearing With Judge

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 02:00:00 PM EST
Tags: Joran Van der Sloot (all tags)

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Bump and Update:: Joran Van der Sloot's meeting with the Judge has concluded. According to Peruvian news, he said nothing. (English Google translation here.)

Radio Programs reported, the judge stayed for nearly an hour inside the prison, and finally had to put on record the refusal of the Netherlands in a joint report with the prosecutor.

Original Post: Dutch Report: Joran Van der Sloot Says Tricked Into Confessing

According to the Dutch Newspaper Der Telegraaf, which says its reporters interviewed Joran Van der Sloot in his prison cell, Joran now says he was tricked into signing the confession. (Google translation here.) From the translation:[More...]

Joran van der Sloot said false promises by the Peruvian police force him to sign a confession, encouraged it. Dutchman accused of the murder stated this yesterday during an exclusive interview with De Telegraaf in the infamous Castro Castro prison in Lima.
"If you sign these papers, you will be extradited to the Netherlands, I was always [told]. "In my blind panic I have everything signed, but did not know what was there." The conversation took place at a table in the jail.
"I was scared during the interrogation and confused and wanted to leave," said Joran cells in the hallway where he and a Colombian assassin convicted of corruption and a Peruvian General's residence.
"I'm tricked into," says Van der Sloot on the murder of Stephanie Flores. "How it all went right, I'll tell you later," said Van der Sloot.

The National Post adds more details:

“In my total panic, I signed the papers even though I didn’t understand what was written on them,” he said. “During the interview I was horribly afraid and I felt increasingly depressed. I just wanted to leave.”
...“How all this happened, I will say later. My lawyer is interested in the first place in all the procedural errors that have taken place,” said Van der Sloot. “I should not be sitting here.”

Joran's court hearing, being held at the prison, should be getting underway about now. Updates to follow.

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Joran Van Der Sloot Remains Silent at Hearing With Judge | 32 comments (32 topical)

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I'm not sure (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by JamesTX on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 11:36:44 AM EST

I want to speculate on any more video released to the press. We aren't seeing it all, and the sequence of releases seems to be by design. Early on, when VDS was asked by the reporter in the cell what he was there for, he said "suspicion of homicide". That doesn't doesn't sound like he knew he had given a confession. It's true VDS isn't known for honesty, but I suspect he is very manipulable at this time especially if anything he says is, in fact, tied to some promise of extradition. Obviously, I would admit to starting the Vietnam war to get extradited from Peru to the Netherlands.

Assuming Van der Sloot has retained (none / 0) (#1)
by oculus on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 10:20:25 AM EST

an attorney by now, why is Van der Sloot giving an interview pending trial?

because the police let the media (none / 0) (#2)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 10:32:19 AM EST

into his cell area where they can interview him. And, I assume, because he's 22 years old and afraid.


Poor baby... (none / 0) (#22)
by diogenes on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 08:42:49 PM EST

Is he a scared young man or is he a media manipulator who is doing anything he can to get out of Peru and back to the Netherlands, where even if he is sentenced for murder he will likely get out in ten or twenty years.


He wouldn't be sentenced (none / 0) (#23)
by gyrfalcon on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 09:07:46 PM EST

for anything in the Netherlands because he hasn't been charged with anything in the Netherlands.


I think it is safe (none / 0) (#26)
by JamesTX on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 11:25:31 PM EST

to say he is a liar and media manipulator, but it is also quite understandable how he might come to the conclusion that he is justified in playing the media if he was innocent in the Holloway case. He is photogenic, and his case involved all kinds of overlapping hot-button social issues. That made an awful lot of money for journalists who could photograph him and sensationalize him. In the process, he was convicted in the press and is almost universally assumed to be guilty. Having realized what had been done to him, he could have easily become very bitter about investigative show-biz journalism and felt justified in playing them for everything he could get (after all, they did it to him). I'm sorry, but I think he still deserves the benefit of doubt, and I can't make any sense of these latest events (the Flores murder). There is something that isn't right.

Granted, VDS is no angel, and his behavior hits all those hot-button issues I have noted before (crime going unpunished, violence against women, and white male privilege) but there is still room for doubt on him being a serial killer. Selected excerpts from 4-5 hours of possible taping leave me unconvinced.


I think only the Nancy Graces (none / 0) (#29)
by gyrfalcon on Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 12:51:31 AM EST

of the world (is there more than one? God help us!) are dumb enough to call him a "serial killer." He might have killed twice, but that doesn't make him a serial killer, just a sociopath with violent reflexes and no impulse control.

I'm personally inclined to believe that he didn't kill Natalee Holloway, at least not intentionally. But if he didn't, it's totally unforgivable to me that he gave her parents the runaround from the very first moments rather than risk the slightest chance to his hide. In fact, now that I think about it, I'd be more forgiving of that behavior if he had killed her.

I think it's that almost unbelievable cruelty that set a lot of people, me included I confess, against him.

I've never had a child disappear, but I did have a beloved pet simply not come home one night and the emotional agony of those months, even years, of wondering and hoping against hope that he hadn't been ripped apart alive by a bobcat or coyote were so terrible, I don't know how parents can survive that kind of event at all.

And honestly, I think you put way too much emphasis on the crime shows here in the U.S. In those first months, he was not where he could see those shows and could have heard about them only in fragments. Nancy Grace wasn't pounding at his door and personally harassing his parents. (What a nightmare thought!) It wasn't until several years later that he began giving interviews and toying with them.

You're right, something isn't right and the Flores murder makes no sense. But murders don't always make sense, and sometimes the thing that "isn't right" is inside the head of the person who did it.


: Hasn't been diagnosed (none / 0) (#32)
by Untold Story on Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 02:35:25 PM EST

as either a sociopath or a serial killer by the professionals who have examined him.
The Discipline of Psychiaty is decades behind other disciplines of medicine here in the US, and I would imagine it would be even more backward in Peru.
In addition, we have no idea of the qualifications of these 'professional' examiners who apparently did his evaluation.
Psychologists, as you know, have a masters only, while a psychiatrist is a medical doctor with four additional years of psychiaty, plus internship, residency, fellowship, etc. There would be quite a difference in their evaluations and their professional opinions.
I also believe there is a great injustice and loss of merit in translating what a Dutch speaking person is actually saying when he is speaking to someone with native Peruvian tongue. So much is lost in translation - so many important details that could help a qualified psychiatrist be in a better position to evaluate the subject more accurately.

at some point, (none / 0) (#4)
by cpinva on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 12:00:10 PM EST

it would seem that the peruvian prosecutors would have to display, in court, the actual evidence they claim to possess, tying mr. van der sloot to the young lady's murder. if it turns out that all they have is his "confession" and the video, with no tangible forensic evidence, i can't imagine that's going to sit well with the international community.

at some point, the peruvian authorities will have to put up or release him.

I suspect (none / 0) (#5)
by jbindc on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 12:51:30 PM EST

When the actual criminal proceedings begin, that will happen. I'm not sure why everyone expects them to show their whole case before the whole investigation is completed or before the proceedings begin.


: Because they've leaked all (5.00 / 0) (#7)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 01:31:09 PM EST

the incriminating information.

yes yes! (none / 0) (#11)
by AlohaMade on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:15:28 PM EST

Also, not only was it video taped, but did'nt they also say there was a representative from the Dutch Embassy there as well?


According to (none / 0) (#6)
by ding7777 on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 01:03:35 PM EST

Uri Geller, Uri did indeed agree to forward Joran $600 and a plane ticket from Peru to Arubu because "he (Joran) was stranded there and had no means of getting back to Aruba".

The initial contact was via Joran's Facebook.

Also, Joran's claim of being stranded in Peru happened a "few days" prior to being publicly wanted by Interpol.

Uri Geller? (none / 0) (#20)
by Big Tent Democrat on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 06:51:41 PM EST

How'd he get into this?


: Exactly. Ya gotta keep up. (none / 0) (#21)
by oculus on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 06:53:35 PM EST

Thin Facebook, Van der Sloot needs money. But couldn't Geller just make it all better by thinking it?

Can't say Google translator is reliable. (none / 0) (#8)
by oculus on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 02:21:03 PM EST

Does this translation infer Judge and prosecutor make a joint report of this mtg. and the record must reflect the suspect remained silent during the mtg.?

I don't think it matters (none / 0) (#9)
by AlohaMade on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:12:21 PM EST

It was said earlier, by police, that they don't really need his confession. The amount of evidence againts him is enough to convict him. I am pretty sure that there must be more than we know about, this other law (sp) Hebeus Corpus, he has the right not to talk to the Judge, and this happens often, but in this case with all the evidence, it will go against him. IMO whatever is on that laptop, is going to throw his two earlier stories right out the window. As for Uri Geller, I kept wondering why he was even involved, but now I see, thanks for the link ding7777, it makes since now. I still feel that JVDS will not be leaving Peru any time soon. Mahalo Nui Loa

What has happened to Geller's mental (none / 0) (#10)
by oculus on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:14:53 PM EST

powers though.


Quite the Opposite (none / 0) (#12)
by squeaky on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:28:06 PM EST

Don't you know about Geller? He has an institute whose sole purpose is to reveal that there are no "mental powers". A $10,000 check, from him, is waiting for anyone to prove otherwise.

He has stated that he learned to "bend spoons" from an advert in a comic book.


Don't you mean ... (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by Yman on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 05:13:15 PM EST

... James Randi, and a $1,000,000 prize?


Now this......this is a prize (none / 0) (#17)
by Militarytracy on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 05:24:48 PM EST

Can't we find the guy from the First Earth Battalion you could knock out a goat here and there?


Yes (none / 0) (#18)
by squeaky on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 05:25:13 PM EST

Got it wrong, his arch enemy "The Amazing Randi" set up the challenge.

Randi was instrumental in 1976 in the setting up of a pressure group called CSICOP (The Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal)...
Randi set up a modern, headline-grabbing version of an old ruse which went back to his hero Houdini's day in the 1920s and before - the offering of a permanent $10,000 (at other times $1m.) prize for anyone able to demonstrate anything paranormal....
The Randi-Geller feud has continued to the present day, yet the two, as a Los Angeles Times article has noted, 'have lived a strange symbiosis, two exceedingly colorful characters, each a foil to the other.' Randi later split from CSICOP after his scatter-gun verbal attacks drew a $15m. libel writ from Geller...

Uri Geller Website


: Please keep this thread on Joran (none / 0) (#19)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 06:18:48 PM EST

and where relevant, what Uri's role is with respect to him. This isn't a thread about Uri.

Hey, I've seen him do it. (none / 0) (#13)
by oculus on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:34:35 PM EST

: Yeah, Me Too (none / 0) (#14)
by squeaky on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 03:37:10 PM EST

Cheap parlor trick.

Only $10,000 (none / 0) (#16)
by Militarytracy on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 05:22:29 PM EST

It isn't even worth cranking up my Chi for let alone my telekinesis :)


can't figure (none / 0) (#24)
by pac on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 09:24:57 PM EST

I have seen a nose broken accidentally. The amount of blood loss amazing, all over walls, clothing, flooring and looking like a murder. An ent said a broken nose brings A LOT of blood. Due to the possibility of a broken nose the pictures of the murder scene could appear more brutal than actual. The fact that Stephany is dead is brutal enough! but there could be an attempt to use pictures, blood, to over play brutality.

A curiosity about the confession and assuming my understanding is correct... Joran is a BIG guy. He could easily stangle someone, especially a girl, without the need to take his shirt off to finish the job?

I am curious what percentage of people are sincere regarding the possibility of a set up? The only aspect of a set up that makes sense to me is the timing of the discussions regarding what happened to Natelee, such as an implication or the prevention of one. In such a situation, wouldn't the target be Joran rather than Stephany? If Joran had already told something, can't prevent, possibly there would be motive to make him appear a murderer.

Mitigating factors in peru ? (none / 0) (#25)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 09:54:17 PM EST

I have heard conflicting reports as to whether Jorans attorney is doing the correct thing, by trying to get the confession thrown out...as Peruvian Justice will reduce the sentence for a confession or admitting to a crime...as a mitigating factor. Can they use mentally ill - insanity as a mitigating factor in Peru as well...???

With a combination of the never ending media attention labeling him a "murderer" for the missing Halloway girl, he has been labeled and slandered for that case...although never charged, Halloways mother has defamed him on almost every second of air time she has gotten in the past five years, his father dies most likely from the stress his issues from the Halloway case brought on, I would probably would have lost it and act insane too.

yes, the law in Peru (none / 0) (#27)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 11:45:02 PM EST

provides for a reduction of sentence for mental impairment and complete protection from prosecution for insanity. It's Article 20 of the Peru Criminal Code. The Code of Criminal Procedure also has provisions on it.

In 2003, the Peru Supreme Court vacated the sentences and convictions of two men who raped and murdered a nun, Lita Castillo, and set fire to the convent, because there was evidence of mental instability. It ordered a new trial.

I'll be writing a post on this shortly.


Excellent (none / 0) (#30)
by gyrfalcon on Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 12:58:30 AM EST

Look forward to it.

It's about the only thing I can think of that his Peruvian lawyer is aiming towards, using the confession and retraction thereof as somehow part of a mental illness defense. And then add that out-of-the-blue interview his mother gave about having intended to have him institutionalized just before he left for Peru. She strikes me as a pretty smart lady, so I don't think that was accidental.

Since the U.S. "justice" system doesn't believe in mental illness, I am curious to see how another system deals with the issue. I'm personally of the opinion that anybody who kills somebody not accidentally is by definition insane, but I'm obviously in a very tiny minority on that.


: the post is up now (none / 0) (#31)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 02:05:08 AM EST

Here

mentally ill? (none / 0) (#28)
by pac on Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 12:21:14 AM EST

Well, Joran wasn't charged and yes he did have unbelievable media coverage, etc. When he began telling the various stories I began to wonder about his mental state although I did not keep up as much during that time as during the initial news period. It is curious that nothing particulary stands out about Joran before the Holloway case and the fact that every itsy bitsy something or another would have been reported. I think you are correct that his father's death could have complicated matters.

At the same time, I don't blame the Holloways. If my daughter was missing and I thought there was more information I would be doing whatever possible too. The people who were assisting the Holloways should have noticed the instability and been more responsible with handling.

The intense media, investigative reporter situation, various stories, father's death, mother's notice of mental instability which she indicated was possibly caused by trauma of the Holloway case on top of the money arriving at such time BUT something more had to happen. Just because Joran was walking around emotionally distraught or disturbed by so much doesn't explain what provoked him to murder Stephany, if so. Reports about a message popping up about killing him or Stephany looking through the computer remain unconfirmed, the best that I know.

I am confused thinking I read that Stephany's brother once said that Stephany did know who Joran was but then later it appeared that she didn't?

One possibility is for whatever reason she hit or he hit or her nose bled and then all the blood and then maybe the post stress due to past history of intense media, police, he didn't react as most who would have just dealt with the result of an exposed physical confrontation.

Maybe not always but most times maybe it's best to look for the most uncomplicated something that could have taken place rather than sorting the most complicated yet sometimes life is complicated so?

Figure that the mother had the best grip on Joran's state knowing she probably had the most sincere interest in him. She used the word paranoid but that word is also often used loosely so? how strict of a definition is unclear. No, I don't think the mother is trying to protect Joran with mental instability talk. Anyone who heard him telling the various stories should have been on alert.

Peru's mentally ill, knowing right from wrong or ? how they consider that factor? One idea is that at least Aruba might provide mental rehabilitation and that would be good if Joran is guilty and to be set free at some point. It is unclear if Peru offers such but considering the reports about the conditions of the prison I assume less would be offered.