UPDATED: Judge rules to limit Todt’s confessions
A judge in Florida has ruled that the confessions given by Anthony Todt in January 2020 won’t be allowed to be read by a jury in their entirety.
Todt — who is charged with four counts of first-degree homicide and one count of animal cruelty in the deaths of his wife, Megan, their children Alek, Tyler and Zoe, and the family's dog — appeared in court on Tuesday.
Judge Keith Carsten in the Osceola County District Nine Court granted a motion by Todt’s defense attorneys on Tuesday, requesting that statements Todt gave to investigators on Jan. 13, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2020, be edited before they’re seen by a jury. Todt spoke to detectives while he was admitted to the hospital under the Baker Act after he told law enforcement he attempted to commit suicide by consuming a large amount of Benadryl.
Carsten decided to reserve his ruling on whether the court will completely suppress Todt's confessions to Osceola County Sheriff's Office detectives.
Lawyers for both Todt and the state agreed that Miranda rights — a list of rights that investigators are required to read to a suspect prior to taking a statement — were read partially for one of Todt's statements and fully for the other and will file a joint stipulation to that effect within the next four days.
The judge also granted a motion by his defense that prohibits attorneys from talking about Todt’s alleged health care fraud scheme during his upcoming trial.
The court also heard arguments on Tuesday from Todt’s lawyers, Robert Wesley, Peter Schmer and Alesha Smith, who are seeking to have all of his statements from Jan. 13 and Jan. 15 entirely thrown out.
The attorneys asked to have both statements thrown out, claiming that Todt was not of sound mind when tendering his confessions, and that Osceola County Sheriff's Department deputies did not properly and entirely read him his Miranda rights.
Judge Carsten heard testimony from a detective and a doctor on Tuesday.
Todt, who grew up in Montville and later lived in Colchester, was arrested at the home his family rented in Celebration, Fla., on Jan. 13, 2020, and allegedly confessed to carrying out the killings to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office that same day. A letter Todt later penned from jail to his estranged father, Robert Todt, detailed his self-proclaimed innocence in a 27-page description of the events that led up to his family's deaths. He claims in the letter that his wife killed their children before committing suicide. Her death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner's office.
Todt is being held in the Osceola County Jail. Jury selection for his trial is expected to begin on Nov. 1.
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