ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – A Michigan man found out about his wife's affair -- but somehow he's the one in trouble, and may is now facing criminal charges.
Thirty-three-year-old Leon Walker used his wife's password to get into her Gmail account, and says he learned of his wife's affair by reading her e-mail on their computer. Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted this month, and Leon Walker will stand trial Feb. 7 -- on felony computer misuse charges.
Walker told The Oakland Press that he was trying to protect the couple's children from neglect and calls the case a "miscarriage of justice."
“I feel very strongly that I’ll be exonerated,” Walker told the paper.
Clara was married twice previously, the Oakland Press reported, explaining that Walker discovered that she was having an affair with her second husband, who had once been arrested for beating her in front of her young son from her first husband.
“I started putting more thought into it, (and thought) she was very likely taking our daughter over to the guy’s house,” Walker told The Oakland Press. “So I said to myself, I bet you I can confirm that by reading her e-mail. She kept very simple passwords and she left them in notes and books throughout the house.”
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says the charge is justified.
Privacy law writer Frederick Lane tells the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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