Friday sentencing sends Kevin German to life in prison

    After more than three years, Imperial’s first murder case in decades came to end Friday afternoon before a small crowd in the Chase County Courtroom.
    Kevin German, who grew up in rural Imperial, will spend the rest of his life in prison after District Judge Patrick Heng’s sentencing.
    He was sentenced to life in the Nebraska Penitentiary for the November 2019 kidnapping and eventual murder of Annika Swanson, a 21-year-old mother of two from Imperial.
    German was also found guilty of false imprisonment of Eve Ambrosek of Imperial.
    Judge Heng’s sentence was as follows:
    Count 1—Murder in the 2nd Degree (Class 1B Felony), 60 to 80 years.
    Count 2—Kidnapping (Class 1A Felony), Life imprisonment.
    Count 3—1st Degree False Imprisonment (Class IIIA Felony), 30-36 months.
    German was credited for the 1,176 days already served in jail.
    Judge Heng was reflective in his comments before sentencing, saying he took into consideration German’s age, minimal criminal record and numerous letters from family, pastors, cousins and others who wrote of German’s “heart” and being a “great kid.”
    He pointed to one letter from a colonel who served in Afghanistan who wrote “he saw evil and saw evil people” there.
    The colonel wrote German “was not an evil person,” Heng noted, “and I don’t disagree with that at all.”
    But, Judge Heng said “horrible, horrible crimes can be committed by people.”
    Referring to the Pre-Sentence Investigation and a letter with it from German, the judge noted he saw no acceptance of responsibility on German’s part.
    “That’s what the court likes to see—some accountability. I didn’t see any,” he said.
    He referred to the different seat he sits in now as a judge versus his years as an attorney.
    “Up here, I saw the pain on the Swansons, I saw the pain on your family’s faces as they heard some of the things they had to hear” during the trial, Heng said.
    “You have a strong support system in your family, no doubt,” he told German.
    Heng noted state’s attorney Doug Warner’s reference to German’s statement in his PSI letter of being a “black kid in a small community” and how German said in his letter the jury did not listen to the evidence in finding him guilty.
    “That’s one thing I’ll disagree with you right now on—the jury did listen to you,” Heng said, as German could be looking at two life sentences.
    “I can personally tell you that afterwards I went back to see if any of them wanted to talk about it, and, not knowing what to expect, I saw each and every juror back there crying,” Judge Heng said.
    “Don’t think they didn’t take this seriously. They gave you every benefit of the doubt as they are supposed to.”
    He said German’s PSI letter was similar to that from Keonna Carter, who was with German when Swanson went into the irrigation tube in November 2019, where she later died. Each blamed the other for her death.
    Heng said for whatever reason, “You two together can be very toxic.”
    Like he told Carter in November at her sentencing, there were choices made, and German made the choice to turn around the car that night, after leaving for Colorado. They returned to the Russ Mann’s residence where Swanson was.
    “You drove the car back and you engaged Annika Swanson,” Heng said.
    “You were the only one that knew the area,” he said.     
    German could have also changed his mind, Heng added, during several stops they made before reaching the irrigation tube.
    Heng reminded German he and Carter later spent 10 days “going to Orlando and Disney World.”
    He said German could have picked up the phone at some point, but neither of them did.
    “To be able to go to Disney World with that in the back of your mind shows me that you really didn’t have much regard for Annika,” he continued.
    Heng also noted the reference in German’s PSI letter, blaming Carter and saying he was “falsely accused of murder by my ex who killed a woman.”
    “You killed the person you knew, Annika Swanson. She wasn’t just a woman, she was someone you knew for a period of time,” Heng said.
    “And you left her in a culvert and only you knew where it was,” he said.
Defense attorney asks for same sentence as Carter
    Defense attorney Clarence Mock of Omaha said German’s sentence shouldn’t be much different than Keonna Carter, who was sentenced in November after a plea deal.
    Carter was sentenced to 40-50 years for 1st degree felony assault and 30-36 months for kidnapping. With time served and early parole, she could be out in a little over 18 years.
    She was originally charged with 1st degree murder and two counts of kidnapping, although one of the kidnapping charges was dropped before sentencing.
    “The person driving all of this was Keonna Carter,” Mock said.
    “The only one who didn’t get a deal here is Kevin German. Keonna Carter certainly got a deal and a sweetheart deal if there ever was one,” he said.
    Mock said Carter was the one driving all the furor and was jealous of German’s relationships with Eve Ambrosek and Swanson.
    He said both Mann and Ambrosek also “got deals.” He stated Ambrosek “beat up on Swanson,” too, and was never charged.
    He said it was Carter who put her foot on Swanson’s head.
    Mann, he said, owned the house they all had been in and had the firearms, “but went on his merry way.”
    Mock also stated there were three possible causes of Swanson’s death, according to a doctor’s testimony at trial, and it wasn’t proven which one killed Swanson—formic acid in her system, meth use or  head trauma. He said none of them could be linked directly to German.
    “Kevin German is not the person who caused the death,” Mock said.
    He said due to the instructions given to the jury, they don’t know if German was considered the principle or the “aider and abettor who stood by while Keonna Carter did damage to this person that resulted in her death.”
    “To say Kevin German was the ring leader is not justified by the evidence,” he said.
    Mock said they know Swanson got into the tube on her “own power and ability.”
    Based on Carter’s trial testimony, Mock said German thought Swanson could climb out of the tube, based on her height and condition. She wasn’t bound or gagged, he said.
    He cited “voluntary release” a number of times, and said German and Carter gave up control of Swanson, even considering that the overflow pipe was something she was encased in.
    “They abdicated any kind of control,” he said.
    “Where’s the evidence that says she couldn’t have climbed out of that tube? She’s 5’10,” he said.
    He referred to a statement in jury selection by a potential juror that suggested Swanson could have reached up and grabbed the top of the tube and, being a corrugated tube, work her way back out.
    “Kevin thought that was possible and there is really no evidence that couldn’t have been done if she would have desired to do that,” he said.
State presents statements
    As he addressed the judge before sentencing, state’s attorney Warner said it’s hard to imagine what Annika Swanson went through lying in an 8-foot high tube with a 24-inch diameter.
    She lived long enough to experience mental suffering and more, Warner said.
    He said the meth she had in her system had not yet metabolized and was not the cause of death.
    “She died because she couldn’t get out,” he said.
    It had to be similar to being buried alive, Warner said, and is the reason for a life sentence.
    The details are gruesome, he added, and shows disregard for life. The interpretation that Swanson was in a “safe place,” and would be found is wrong, he said.
    “This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if Kevin German didn’t want it to,” Warner said.
    “He’s front and center.”
    Swanson’s family members, members of the German family, Ambrosek and some of the jurors at last summer’s trial were in the courtroom Friday for the sentencing.
    Also on hand for the sentencing was Sheriff Kevin Mueller and all three of his deputies.
    German was transported to the penitentiary in Lincoln by Chase County officers on Wednesday.

Public defender appointed

    Documents filed Friday by Kevin German’s attorney, Clarence Mock of Omaha, ask the court to appoint the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy or suitable counsel to represent German on appeal and in further proceedings in the case. Judge Patrick Heng approved the request.
    The affidavit German filed to proceed on appeal states he is unable to pay the fees and costs.
    After those legalities were handled, Heng approved the withdrawal of Mock’s law firm, Johnson & Mock, as German’s counsel in any further proceedings in the case and on his appeal.