Status hearings held for German, Carter

    Court action is proceeding, albeit slowly, for the two people charged with a November murder in Chase County.
    Kevin German, 24, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Keonna Carter, 22, of Taylorsville, Utah, remain in the Lincoln County Jail in North Platte. German is charged with first degree murder and two counts of kidnapping, while Carter is charged with first degree murder and one count of kidnapping.
    They were charged in connection with the November disappearance and death of Annika Swanson of Imperial, 22, who was reported missing by her father three days before her body was found about five miles south of Imperial.
    German also is charged with kidnapping Eve Ambrosek of Imperial.
    Both defendants had status hearings in recent weeks in Chase County District Court. Those hearings, conducted by telephone due to closure of the courthouse during the COVID-19 pandemic, were both continued. German will have another status hearing July 27 and Carter will have another June 8.
    In other area court action, James Hicks of Palisade waived his April 22 preliminary hearing in Hitchcock County Court.
    Hicks, 43, is charged with child enticement by electronic device, a Class IV felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison or a $10,000 fine.
    He was arrested Jan. 17 after a search of his Palisade home and was later released from jail  on $75,000 bond.
    No further court action has yet been scheduled for Hicks.