Legal Loopholes & Defense Tactics Could Sterns Walk on a Technicality?

Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

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3.3 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Could a legal technicality allow an alleged child predator and murderer to walk free? That’s the chilling question in the case of Stephan Sterns, accused of murdering 13-year-old Maddie Soto and facing 60 additional child sex crime charges. With prosecutors seeking the death penalty, the defense is scrambling to suppress critical evidence—including damning cell phone data—arguing that law enforcement overstepped legal boundaries. Former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins to dissect the courtroom battle. Did investigators make a fatal mistake by skipping a warrant, or will the severity of the alleged crimes overshadow any procedural missteps? And then there's Maddie’s mother, Jen Soto—who once defended Sterns but now calls him a “master liar.” Was she just another one of his victims, or is she trying to protect herself from potential charges? And the most disturbing twist yet—another person in Maddie’s life, a teacher, has now been charged with child sex crimes. Is this a horrifying coincidence, or are we looking at a much larger and more sinister web of predators? #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #JusticeForMaddie #LegalLoopholes #ChildPredators #CrimeInvestigation #DarkTruth
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Transcript

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0:23.8	CrimeCon London, partnered by True Crime,
0:26.2	7th and 8th of June, 2025.
0:31.1	This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski.
0:36.0	A murder case is never just about what happened.
0:38.3	It's about what can be proven in court.
0:42.3	In the case of Saffan Stearns accused of murdering 13-year-old Maddie Soto
0:46.3	and facing 60 additional child sex crime charges.
0:50.3	The legal chess game is already in full swing.
0:52.3	The defense is fighting to suppress key evidence
0:55.2	of prosecutors push for the death penalty. With a two trial strategy in play, the case raises
1:01.4	huge questions about what evidence gets in, what doesn't, and how both sides are positioning
1:06.8	their arguments. Joining us today, attorney and former prosecutor Eric Fattis, who knows exactly how these legal battles unfold.
1:16.6	Eric, and we're looking at the defense strategy here, trying to suppress the cell phone and the Google search data.
1:23.6	I mean, how strong is that argument and what sort of challenges to prosecutors face in keeping
1:29.7	that evidence in play in a case like this that on the surface does kind of feel kind of open and shot?
1:36.0	You know, I do think the cell phone evidence is really valuable to the prosecution, and I think
1:42.0	they went about it in not the best way. You know,
1:45.1	really the standard for downloading a cell phone, even if you have consent, is to kind of put
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