Kidnapping defendant's tape suppressed

BOSTON, April 28 (UPI) -- A Boston Superior Court judge ruled in the defense's favor Tuesday, barring evidence of videotaped conversations in a parental kidnapping trial.

Judge Frank M. Gaziano said investigators violated Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter's Miranda right to silence, invoked when an FBI investigator and a Boston police officer read him his rights, The Boston Globe reported. Jurors therefore will not see Gerhartsreiter's videotaped interactions with police and investigators. He plans to use the insanity defense.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Denner said, "We consider this a significant victory. We are very pleased that the hours of conversation are not coming in."

Gerhartsreiter's trial for kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter last summer from a Boston street is set for May 26.

Gerhartsreiter identified himself as Clark Rockefeller when police asked his name. Gaziano, siding with Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office, ruled Gerhartsreiter must stand trial for giving a false name. The charge allows a one-year maximum imprisonment.