LANCASTER, PA – A former Manheim man who is serving a life sentence in prison for murdering his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child had his latest request for relief denied by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Matthew S. Becker, now 32, was sentenced to life in prison plus 20-40 years in March of 2013 for shooting Allison Walsh in the head at a Manheim home on August 12, 2011.
“Becker had previously attempted to appeal the conviction in local, state, and federal courts and was denied relief,” said Sean McBryan of the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. “This time Becker sought a certificate of appealability (COA) to challenge the federal court’s order denying his habeas petition after the Court of Appeals deferred to the state court’s factual findings.”
Court records show Becker and his attorney argued that information from an interview with police a few days after the shooting should not have been admissible at trial.
The Court of Appeals stated in its opinion that during an initial interview, Becker admitted he fired the handgun, but said he was only trying to clean and “play around” with it. Police advised him of his rights, which he waived before questioning.
“During a follow-up interview six days after the shooting upon the release from a psychiatric hospital, Becker voluntarily returned to speak with police for a second time,” court records state. “Becker agreed to let police video record the interview and police told him the second interview was prompted by discrepancies with his first statement.”
He was not put in handcuffs or arrested, the door to the interview room was left unlocked and officers offered him drinks, cigarettes, and breaks.
Police gave him his Miranda rights.
Becker and his attorney argued that during this interview, he invoked his right to remain silent on two occasions. First, when approximately one hour into the interview Becker said, “I don’t know. I have nothing more to say cause no matter what I say, youse trying to make me something I’m not.”
“Investigators left the room for eight to nine minutes at this point. Second, a little over an hour later in the interview, Becker responded to questions involving his history toward women saying, “Ok. I’m done now.” He never explicitly asked to leave the room, according to the Court of Appeals’ opinion. Becker was arrested and charged following this interview,” McBryan said in a statement. “The Court of Appeals sided with the state court’s original findings that Becker came in to be interviewed voluntarily and never asked or attempted to leave, adding that the interview room had multiple exits, no lock, and two windows.”
The Court of Appeals ruled that there was no obvious constitutional violation that would allow the federal court to overturn Becker’s conviction.
In making this decision, the Court of Appeals clarified the standard that federal courts should use in deciding whether a defendant should be allowed to appeal the dismissal of a federal habeas corpus action. Pennsylvania State Police investigated the shooting, with Trooper Chad Roberts filing charges. Assistant District Attorney Mark Fetterman won the trial convictions. First Deputy District Attorney Travis S. Anderson represented the Commonwealth in the post-conviction litigation in state and federal court.
Portions of this article were based on a press release issued by the Lancaster District Attorney’s Office.