Kansas: Police arrogance endangers what should be an easy murder conviction

A judge said Wednesday that if prosecutors take Sam Holton to trial on double murder charges, they will do so without most of the evidence seized at his house — and his confession.

Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman ruled that Wichita police illegally entered Holton's home in Mulvane to arrest him in connection with two killings last Thanksgiving. In doing so, Kaufman said, detectives tainted any evidence they would later obtain, including Holton's admission that he was involved in the shooting deaths of Adrian Jackson and Jessie Foust near Central and Hillside in Wichita.

Kaufman said detectives entered the Mulvane house without a warrant or consent of the residents and illegally arrested Holton, 18.

The judge suppressed property from the dead couple's home found inside Holton's house. Kaufman also suppressed evidence police took from the house of Trevor Cox, 17, after Holton took detectives there. That includes the murder weapon: a 9mm handgun retrieved from Cox's closet.

Kansas law states residents must give explicit permission to police before they enter a home, Kaufman said. "They weren't asked to come in, and they didn't ask if they could come in," Kaufman said.

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