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Michigan Woman Strikes Back Against Alleged Hacker Ex-Husband

Jan 6, 2011 – 3:59 PM
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Hugh Collins

Hugh Collins Contributor

A Michigan woman whose ex-husband faces possible prison time for reading her personal e-mails fought back at what she claims are sympathetic portrayals of her ex in the media.

Clara Walker says the media portrays her ex Leon Walker as a victim, even though he admits to reading messages on her Google Mail account.

"He violated my privacy. I was violated," Clara Walker told ABC. "It's all about him right now ... because he's making it all about him. He forgot what he did."

Leon Walker, Clara's third husband, says he read the messages because he was worried that she was having an affair that would affect their daughter. He says he read e-mails showing that she was having an affair with her second husband, who had previously been arrested for beating her in front of her young son.

"I knew she was involving her son in her relationship with (her second husband). And I was very concerned that she was also doing the same thing with our daughter," Leon Walker told ABC.

This is the first time that anyone has been prosecuted under Michigan law for reading their spouse's e-mails. Oakland County prosecutors are relying on a law that is typically used to prosecute crimes like identity theft and industrial espionage, The Detroit Free Press said.

Leon Walker faces up to five years in prison if convicted of felony misuse of a computer.

"It's outrageous. It's insane," he told ABC News.

Leon Walker, who works in information technology for Oakland County, claims that both he and Clara regularly used the computer and that she kept all her passwords in a notebook beside the computer.

Clara Walker denies this, saying the computer was hers alone.

After reading the e-mails, Leon Walker says he passed them on to Clara Walker's first husband, the father of Clara's son, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The father then put in an application for custody of the boy.

"I was doing what I had to do," Leon Walker told the Detroit Free Press. "We're talking about putting a child in danger."

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Many have objected to the law being used in this way. State Rep. Tom McMillin says he will introduce a bill that will exempt spouses and parents from prosecution for reading e-mails.

"It is clear there was never an intention for this law to be used to go after spouses," McMillin said, according to The Oakland Press. "Since it appears at least one prosecutor in the state can't see that, I'll introduce legislation early next year to clarify ... the obvious."

Still, the prosecutors have vowed to fight on. They say that Leon Walker's media appearances show he is not confident in his legal defense.

"Apparently, they are trying the case in the media, because they are not doing so well in the courts," Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper said in a statement, according to ABC.
Filed under: Nation, Crime, Tech
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