This story was updated on July 11, 2024 at 3:40 p.m. to include the verdict.
Kyle Ricke, a north central Iowa man, has been found guilty of killing Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram in a 2023 shooting.
The jury deliberated for about an hour on Thursday. Judge Nancy Whittenburg read the verdict at the Dickinson County Courthouse in Spirit Lake.
“We, the jury, find the defendant, Kyle Lou Ricke, guilty of murder in the first degree.”
Sentencing has been set for Aug. 21 at 9:30 a.m. in Kossuth County. The trial was moved to Dickinson County due to concerns about finding an impartial jury.
The mandatory sentence for first-degree murder in Iowa is life in prison without parole.
The trial
A grainy body cam video caught the final moments of Cram's life on Sept. 13, 2023.
A jury and others sitting inside a Dickinson County courtroom on Tuesday heard the relaxed interaction between Ricke and Cram that was captured in that footage before Ricke opened fire on Cram at his mother’s home in Algona 102 seconds later.
Ricke, 43, was on trial this week in Spirit Lake. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder.
Mother testifies Ricke “snapped”
Prosecutors said Cram was trying to arrest Ricke for his involvement in a harassment case when Ricke opened fire.
In the body camera footage played in the courtroom, Ricke asked the reason for his arrest as a skid loader hummed loudly in the background. Cram stated he didn’t have any specifics — except that Ricke faced a harassment charge. It turned out to be a simple misdemeanor for third-degree harassment from Palo Alto County.
Cram allowed Ricke to leave to put his skid loader away.
Irene Ricke, testifying as a witness for the prosecution, told the jury her son appeared happy that evening as he built a walking trail from their home to a nearby river. The situation turned tragic, she said, when her son returned from the garage with a gun and started shooting without warning.
“They were joking — it wasn’t in his character to do something like this,” Irene Ricke said. “It all happened so fast.”
During cross-examination by the defense, Ricke said her son was stressed over the deterioration of relationships with his ex-wife and a former girlfriend.
“My son is a good, hard-working man. He's never hurt anybody,” she said. “He doesn't have that kind of heart.”
Prosecution and defense opening statements
Assistant Iowa Attorney General Ryan Baldridge said Cram didn’t have time to even draw his service weapon as Ricke fired off a succession of bullets. One pierced Cram’s hand, four tore his torso and three hit his head.
“He was shot eight times point blank by the defendant who murdered in cold blood,” said Baldridge, who is serving as a prosecutor in the case that moved from Kossuth County to Dickinson due to concerns pretrial publicity would impact the ability to find an impartial jury.
“The defendant executed Officer Cram because he was ‘tired of this shit,'” Baldridge said, referring to Ricke’s response to interactions with law enforcement over claims of harassment. “He says that to his mom as if this is some sort of justification for what he did.”
Baldridge added that after the deadly assault, Kyle Ricke tried to take his own life by holding the gun to his head and pulling the trigger, however no bullets remained. Baldridge stated the video should be enough to convince the jury that the defendant committed murder in the first degree.
During the defense’s opening statements, attorney Barbara Westphal said the video evidence, which also included dash camera video, failed to show Ricke’s state of mind during the incident.
“The minutes that led to the death of Officer Cram were not filled with malice or premeditation,” Westphal said. “The evidence will show he panicked.”
Ricke seeks refuge with sister
After the shooting, Ricke fled the scene. He was taken into custody four hours later.
Ricke’s sister, Christine Mathiowetz, said her brother showed up at her house in Sleepy Eye, Minn., more than 100 miles away from the fatal incident.
Mathiowetz said her brother told her he did “something terrible,” and he wanted to end his life. She said Ricke didn’t want to go back to jail after spending a night there a week earlier on another harassment charge.
Mathiowetz tossed Ricke’s gun into nearby brush to keep it out of his hands so he wouldn’t use it on himself. They prayed together before Mathiowetz called the police to have her brother turn himself in.
“He found Jesus that day,” she said.
Closing arguments
Testimony wrapped up on Wednesday. Ricke chose not to testify, and his defense team did not call any witnesses.
Closing arguments concluded on Thursday. Prosecutor Scott Brown said claims by the defense that Ricke didn’t premediate the attack are untrue. He had the jury listen to 90 seconds of silence to show the time Ricke left to park his skid loader with Cram’s permission and return with a gun he fired eight times.
“The evidence in this case is overwhelming that murder in the first-degree was committed by the defendant when he took Officer Cram’s life,” Brown said.
Kevin Cram served with the Algona Police Department for eight years after starting his career in law enforcement in Nora Springs. Many current and former colleagues showed up in support of the fallen officer.
Brown said the Cram family is relieved that Ricke is being held accountable, but there is still a ways to go in the healing process.
“They're tired, you know, and it's been a long road even though it's less than a year to get this to trial. But it was still tough for them, and it will continue to be difficult,” he said.
The family will have a chance to share their feelings during sentencing in August, according to Brown.
