Last Updated: Thursday, August 14, 2008 2:03 PM CDT
Defense wants evidence reopened in Decker case
By Daily News Staff
A Rhinelander teen accused of attempting to cover up her boyfriend’s alleged role in a Tomahawk homicide wants to add to the evidence a judge will consider when he decides whether her statements to police should be suppressed.
An attorney for Katie L. Decker has filed a motion asking the court to listen to an additional set of recorded statements before the court rules on a defense motion to suppress statements.
The motion indicates the state recently provided the defense with another set of statements Decker allegedly made in April 2007.
Judge Neal A. Nielsen held a hearing on the suppression motion on April 17, 2008, and was to listen to recordings of Decker’s statements before handing down a ruling.
Decker, 17, is charged with a single felony count of harboring or aiding a felon. She is accused of hiding bloody clothes allegedly worn by her then boyfriend, Seth Louis, when he allegedly stabbed Tracy Maurer, to death on April 6, 2007.
Maurer, 42, Louis’ co-worker at the Rhinelander Taco John’s restaurant, was found dead in her home at 211 W. Merrill Avenue in Tomahawk. Louis, 24, of Rhinelander, has been charged with first degree intentional homicide (as party to the crime) in connection with Maurer’s death.
The defense claims Decker’s statements to police were not voluntary.
During the motion hearing, Decker’s attorney indicated his client didn’t make incriminating statements until police told her she was not free to leave and would be placed in secure detention, and her mother began crying.
He also asked Tomahawk Police Chief Don Johnson whether officers had a strategic reason for including Decker’s mother, a mental health counselor, in the interview process.
The criminal complaint lodged against Louis alleges he gave Decker the bloodstained clothes in the days following the murder and she hid them for him.
Decker is free on a $5,000 surety bond. She is also prohibited from having any contact with Louis who is being held in the Lincoln County jail on $500,000 cash bond.
Louis is being held in the Lincoln County jail on $500,000 cash bail. He is scheduled for trial Nov. 12.
Decker, who entered a not guilty plea in December, faces a maximum of three years and six months in prison if convicted.
The court has yet to rule on the defense request to include the additional statements, however a hearing in this case is set for later this month.
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