Sentence may not end bizarre abduction saga
A federal judge in Sacramento will hand down his sentence — which may be as severe as life in prison — to Matthew Muller on Thursday, ending a chapter in the sensational Vallejo kidnapping case that police originally dismissed as a hoax.
But whether Judge Troy Nunley gives the 39-year-old Harvard Law School graduate and former San Francisco attorney life or something more lenient, the outcome likely won’t put an end to the bizarre saga.
An ongoing civil case filed by the victims against the Vallejo Police Department lingers, while other Bay Area jurisdictions ponder whether to bring charges of their own against Muller for crimes not addressed in the federal case.
“As long as district attorneys are within the statute of limitations, he can be charged with other crimes. Typically, other jurisdictions will do just that,” said legal analyst Steve Clark, a former Santa Clara County prosecutor who now works as a private defense attorney. “If this gets overturned, or there’s some irregularity, he would still have these other cases pending.”
Muller’s victims — Denise Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn — are expected to speak publicly for the first time at the sentencing hearing Thursday in federal court in Sacramento. Their statements — along with statements from Muller’s supporters — are among the factors Nunley will consider in deciding the admitted kidnapper’s fate.
Federal prosecutors have asked that Nunley sentence Muller to 40 years in prison for the March 2015 abduction of Huskins, 31, from Quinn’s home in Mare Island.
Muller — who spent four years in the Marine Corps in the 1990s — agreed to plead guilty in September in exchange for the sentencing recommendation from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Muller’s attorney, Tom Johnson, argued in a court filing Monday that his client should get 30 years and included a letter of support from Muller’s former colleagues at Harvard Law School’s Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, where Muller worked as acting director in 2008.
Seventeen attorneys at the program signed the letter to the judge in December.
“We are proud of the imprint Matt made at HLS, which is at odds with his untreated bipolar disorder and his consequent behavior,” the program’s director, Deborah Anker, wrote. “He is remembered as a man of integrity, decency and compassion, qualities we trust will be reflected in any sentence rendered.”
Huskins’ attorney, Douglas Rappaport, warned that any sentence other than life would put the public in danger.
“This man’s most lethal weapon is his mind,” he said. “To commit this crime, all he needed was a water pistol. Even if he’s released at 70, he’s still capable of committing more crimes.”
A presentence report by the court’s probation department has recommended Muller be sentenced to life in prison.
Muller, though, could face local charges after his federal sentencing. Aaron Quinn, 31, was not named as a victim in the federal indictment, leaving the door open for the Solano County district attorney’s office to bring its own charges.
On the Peninsula, meanwhile, investigators said they are looking at Muller as a suspect in at least two home invasions similar to the Vallejo case.
In one incident in Palo Alto, a masked assailant broke into a 32-year-old woman’s home and sexually assaulted her. The victim in the attack had attended a 2008 event Muller organized at Harvard, officials said.
On the night of the Mare Island abduction, Muller sneaked into Quinn’s home armed with a toy gun disguised as a firearm with a laser sight. He bound his victims, drugged Quinn and vanished with Huskins, later demanding a ransom of $8,500, officials said.
Quinn — originally thought by police to be a suspect in the case — underwent hours of rigorous interrogation by investigators after recounting the attack.
The kidnapper later sent The Chronicle a “proof of life” statement with a recording of Huskins’ voice describing the day’s news and personal details only she would know.
Then, two days after vanishing, Huskins turned up safe at her father’s home in Huntington Beach (Orange County) after being repeatedly sexually assaulted and then released by her captor. Investigators, though, immediately said the abduction was bogus.
Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park called the episode “an orchestrated event,” demanding an apology from the victims while standing in front of a bank of local and national television cameras outside department headquarters.
Huskins and Quinn sued the city of Vallejo and its police department for defamation and constitutional rights violations over its handling of the case.
The day after Huskins’ release, The Chronicle began receiving frenzied letters from the purported kidnapper, saying he was part of a crew of “Ocean’s Eleven, gentlemen criminals” running an autotheft ring on Mare Island.
Vallejo police brushed the letters off until Muller was caught following a home invasion in Dublin that mirrored aspects of the Huskins kidnapping.
Dublin police found Muller holed up at his parent’s South Lake Tahoe vacation home with evidence linked to the Mare Island case.
Family members of the victims said this week that they hope Muller gets at least 40 years — but preferably life — so they can begin to put the matter behind them.
“Aaron and Denise don’t want to ever have to think about Muller again,” said Marianne Quinn, Aaron Quinn’s mother. “But this is just one step in the process.”