Baron Wolf von Frankenstein failed to disclose to Inspector Krogh that he had treated the injured Frankenstein’s Creature. Does that failure (or cover-up) amount to obstruction of justice?
The Federal definition of obstruction of justice is:
Whoever willfully endeavors by means of bribery to obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of information relating to a violation of any criminal statute of the United States by any person to a criminal investigator shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
18 USCS. app. § 1510.
The elements to prove obstruction are the 1) willful endeavor by means of certain actions to prevent communication of information relative to violation of any criminal statute of United States and 2) criminal investigator must be individual authorized by department or agency of United States to conduct or engage in investigations of all prosecutions for violation of criminal law of United States. United States v. Williams, 470 F.2d 1339 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 936, 93 S. Ct. 1912, 36 L. Ed. 2d 396 (1973).
Inspector Krogh confronted Dr. Frankenstein after the murder of Ewald Neumüller, who was the 7th victim to have a burst heart. Neumüller was one of the last two surviving jurors who had convicted Igor to hang. The other jurors were the other victims of burst hearts. Krogh did not outright ask Frankenstein if he had created a new Monster or knew the identity of the killer. However, Krogh did ask Frankenstein if there was any reason the Frankenstein family would not be safe on their estate.
Dr. Frankenstein did not openly incriminate himself with the Inspector’s questions. However, when asked about the whereabouts of the butler Thomas Benson, Frankenstein stated that Benson had been prone to go out drinking because of his war service. This apparently was a lie, which was contradicted by Elsa von Frankenstein’s discussion of Benson’s character.
Inspector Krogh’s second attempt at questioning Dr. Frankenstein was over the death of Emil Lang, who also had a burst heart. The inspector directly stated he believed the doctor who the identity of the killer. While not technically lying, an agitated Frankenstein said the monster was the killer. Upon further questioning, the doctor named Igor. The inspector countered that Igor was publically seen playing music at the time of the murders. Dr. Frankenstein failed to disclose that he had confront the Creature and Igor after the first round of questioning where Igor admitted to the murders.
Did these actions by Dr. Frankenstein amount to a willful endeavor by means of certain actions to prevent communication of information relative to violation of any criminal statute? The answer is clearly yes.
Dr. Frankenstein had direct knowledge that the Creature was alive. He did not have direct evidence of the Creature’s involvement in the killings during the first round of questioning, but the doctor did have suspicions. Moreover, Dr. Frankenstein was not truthful about his butler Benson. While the doctor did not know Benson had been killed, the doctor did know Benson was missing. Furthermore, Dr. Frankenstein had confronted Igor and had an admission of guilt, which the doctor failed to disclose to Inspector Krogh.
The lesson here is clear: Don’t play mad scientist and don’t lie to law enforcement investigating murders from the Creature you reanimated.
