Defense challenges statements that led to murder charges

Attorney says police did not properly advise suspect of his rights

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--The statements that led prosecutors to charge James Robert Ketcher with the murder of a Springfield man came under criticism Friday in court.

Ketcher, 28, of Springfield, is one of two suspects in the September 2002 killing of 79-year-old Edwin "Speedy" Saffert in his Springfield home. Ketcher was indicted along with Daniel Ramo Pena, 16, on six counts of felony murder by a grand jury about a month after they were questioned by investigators.

Attorneys for Ketcher asked the court to supress statements Ketcher allegedly made to investigators on Sept. 17 and 18, claiming that BCA agents and police failed to advise him of his rights during the his first interview and treated them as an afterthought during the second interview.

Court documents indicate both suspects were interviewed by investigators about their involvements in Saffert's death. Both suspects allegedly admitted to planning the robbery of Saffert's home but they blamed each other for the actual killing, court complaints said.

No legal arguments were made during the hearing although the court heard testimony from two BCA agents and a Brown County deputy sheriff about the circumstances surrounding the statements. Ketcher also took the stand in his own defense.

Brown County District Court Judge John R. Rodenberg asked both attorney Robert Docherty of New Ulm and Brown County Attorney James Olson to submit their arguments over the motion within 10 days.

Docherty also asked the judge for a speedy trial. The county is now required to hold a jury trial for Ketcher within two months. Olson said he expects the trial to take the better part of a week but is unsure when it will actually start. Olson said Ketcher will likely stand trial by himself rather than face the murder charges with Pena, because the two of them accused each other of killing Saffert. Olson indicated he will probably call on one to testify in the other's trial.

Court documents indicate Daniel Pena is supposed to have a similar hearing next month.

Both men are facing possible sentences of life in prison for two counts of murder in the first degree and an additional 40 years each on four counts of murder in the second degree. Both are being held in lieu of $750,000 bail.

Testimony in Friday's hearing centered on the circumstances surrounding Ketcher's statements to investigators.

Olson called BCA agents Dennis Fier and Bob Berg and Deputy Bob Christensen of the Brown County Sheriff's Department to the stand.

They explained that they received word from an anonymous source that Ketcher was part of a conversation that had to do with robbing Saffert. They had a conversation with Ketcher on Sept. 17, in which he allegedly showed them the spot in the Minnesota River where the alleged murder weapon was dumped. They later executed a warrant on Daniel Pena based on the information Ketcher provided during the statement he gave at the Springfield police station that day.

One problem sprung up that investigators didn't expect--the tape recording equipment was not working. Ketcher was asked to come back for another interview on Sept. 18, which agents recorded on videotape. They searched his Springfield home and arrested him that same day.

Docherty told the court that the Sept. 17 statement was inadmissible because police did not inform Ketcher that he had the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney and that anything he said or did could be used against him in court. He said police did advise Ketcher of his rights on the following day, but some doubt remains over whether or not he was read those rights before or after he made his statements.

"Any time people are in the custody of police, they can be convinced to say things if they don't know they had the right not to talk," Docherty said Friday. "They can say things that are not true to get out of trouble. They can give false and inaccurate information because people are so intimidated and nervous about being in custody."

Ketcher said he did not remember what happened during the Sept. 18 statement as he was taking vicodin, a pain medication, for a knee problem that day. He said the vicodin impaired his ability to remember the interview.

Olson said later Friday that Ketcher was not technically in police custody on Sept. 17 and spoke to investigators voluntarily.