Judge: Alleged killer’s jailhouse confession admissible as evidence
LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— A judge ruled that a jailhouse confession could be used as evidence in the murder of a well-known businessman from Lackawanna County.
On March 31, 2023, investigators announced the arrest of 37-year-old Justin Schuback, the man they say killed Lackawanna County businessman Robert Baron Sr.
Since his arrest, Schuback has been in prison awaiting legal action. While in prison, court documents state Schuback’s cellmate gave him Suboxone, a drug used to treat narcotic dependence, and recorded the conversation that followed.
In this conversation, investigators say Schuback provided details on how he killed Baron Sr., how he tried to clean up the evidence at the scene of the murder, where he buried the body, and how he burned other evidence. During his conversation with his cellmate, he also said he messed up by leaving a few blood drops in the car, a mistake that would later help police crack the case of Baron’s disappearance.
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Schuback’s lawyers argue this jailhouse confession is inadmissible as evidence because Schuback was under the influence of Suboxone at the time of the recording. The state’s lawyers argued that Schuback being under the influence of Suboxone was of his own free will, and as he confessed to another inmate, it would have been the same as confessing to someone else outside prison.
On April 24, a judge ruled that Schuback’s confession to another inmate could be used as evidence in his trial. The judge noted that Schuback’s confession while under the influence of Suboxone only affects the weight to which it will be held in the trial, not its admissibility as evidence.
Schuback’s trial is scheduled to start on May 6.
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