–The man accused of killing an Algona Police Officer last September is asking for his trial to be moved out of Kossuth County.
Court documents filed on Monday show 43-year-old Kyle Lou Ricke is asking for a change of venue for his 1st Degree Murder trial, which is scheduled to begin in late June.
In his motion, Attorney Matthew Pittenger states that media coverage of the case was intense following the shooting death of Officer Kevin Cram on September 13th, 2023. He says that publicity has created a substantial likelihood that a fair and impartial jury can not be impaneled from Kossuth County or any surrounding county.
The motion asks the court to examine the media coverage following Ricke’s arrest and examine whether the accounts indicated the defendant is guilty, whether they were factual and informative, whether they were inflammatory in tone, and whether they contained any editorial denunciations of the defendant.
The state will file a written response to the motion before a judge makes a ruling.
Ricke is currently scheduled to have a pretrial conference on May 31st. His trial is scheduled to begin on June 25th, pending the outcome of this motion.
