By Kyle L. Ricke
Convicted murderer Kyle Ricke was to be sentenced today in Kossuth County for the 2023 shooting death of Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram.
Earlier this week, District Court Judge Nancy Whittenburg overruled a motion seeking a new trial.
Ricke’s attorneys contested his first-degree murder conviction, saying the prosecution did not prove that their client killed Cram with premeditation, and that the jury verdict “is contrary to the evidence.” They also claimed the verdict “is not supported by the weight of the evidence.”
Ricke was convicted last month of killing Cram.
He was taken this week from the Hamilton County Jail, where he has been awaiting his sentencing, and returned to the Kossuth County Jail.
In their filing, Ricke’s attorneys claimed the court “erred in overruling defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal as there was insufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant acted with malice aforethought or premeditation. Specifically, the State’s witnesses testified that Mr. Ricke showed no prior animosity or desire to harm Officer Cram. That approximately 90 seconds passed from the time the defendant left the presence of Officer Cram to the shots being fired which was not sufficient time for the defendant to form malice aforethought or premeditation.”
Ricke was found guilty by a Dickinson County jury on July 11; it took less than an hour to deliver its verdict. The trial was held in Dickinson County on a change of venue.
Ricke, of Algona, killed Cram on Sept. 13, 2023, when Cram attempted to serve an arrest warrant for third-degree harassment on Ricke at the home of his mother. Following an initial interaction with Cram, Ricke returned with a gun and shot Cram eight times.
Cram died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The sequence of events and shooting were recorded by Cram’s body camera.
A first-degree murder conviction in Iowa means Ricke will spend his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
