Legal Commentary

Holloway Unhinged?

By Jeralyn

In the U.S. it would be a crime to enter a prison to visit an inmate under a false name. Apparently, it's not in Peru.

That's what Beth Holloway did , pretending to be a journalist, not using her real name, hoping to sneak in a camera to tape Joran Van der Sloot for yet another hyped TV movie by Dutch tabloid journalist Peter de Vries. The visitor's log does not contain her name. But even her lawyer confirms she entered Castro Castro prison in Peru and got into his cell -- for five minutes.

Good for Joran that he refused to discuss anything with her and handed her his attorney's card. Holloway and De Vries were thrown out when the camera was discovered. The Dutch media initially reported she was detained, but her lawyer says she wasn't and that she broke no laws.

Holloway's attorney says she didn't tell him she was going and is being "guarded" about the meeting. Sounds like she just wanted to threaten him:

"I think it was more to deliver the message that he might be in Peru but she hasn't gone away.

[More...]

I assume it was the Dutch media and not Holloway's charitable foundation that paid for her trip. Does she even have a real job?

Sneaking a camera into a jail cell to trick Joran into confessing makes one wonder whether it wasn't her and her investigators who set Joran up for the extortion sting by telling him to contact her lawyer because she'd offer money for details about where Natalie was buried.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 17, 2010 (boomark / email).