By Jason Arndt
Editor
Kenosha County prosecutors believe more evidence could be uncovered from an accused double homicide suspect’s cell phone, which has been in storage since his arrest, but will need permission from a judge to know for sure.
Nathan Kivi, 25, of Trevor, allegedly shot and killed brothers Richard and Kenneth Samuel in the Village of Twin Lakes on Nov. 24, 2017.
Kivi was eventually captured by Wisconsin State Patrol troopers, who found him traveling on Interstate 94 towards Tomah hours after the alleged crime, a criminal complaint states.
Meanwhile, at a Sept. 4 motion hearing, where Circuit Court judge Bruce Schroeder heard arguments related to separating two bail jumping charges from the homicide charge, the judge learned Kivi’s cell phone is still in evidence.
District Attorney Michael Graveley, who presented the findings to Schroeder, will need to file a motion to receive permission to download data contained in Kivi’s cell phone.
“When we thought about about this case as we started preparing for the January trial, we saw we had his phone,” Graveley said following the motion hearing. “We thought we might as well download his phone to see who he was talking to and what evidence was there.”
Schroeder, meanwhile, will review the motion and decide at a Sept. 25 hearing.
In other motions filed before Schroeder, Kivi agreed to submit a DNA sample following a request from prosecutors.
Although Kivi, who was previously convicted of a felony, already had a sample, Schroeder requested a formal motion.
“The state crime lab requires that you get a new sample just in case there is ever a mistake in the DNA database,” Graveley said after the hearing. “It wasn’t available because at that time, he was already a charged individual.”
“Because he was a charged individual, judge Schroeder requires that you have a formal motion,” he added.
Kivi’s defense attorneys, Kristyne Watson and James LeRoy Fields-Bowers, requested a motion to separate his two bail jumping charges from the homicide charges.
At the time of the double homicide, Kivi was out on signature bond from a case in Walworth County. He was accused of strangling the mother of his child at a Town of Bloomfield residence, a complaint states.
In a statement before Schroeder, Fields-Bowers said the bail jumping charges could cause a prejudiced jury, stating the charges will “tarnish his reputation for the jury.”
Graveley, however, argued with that claim, adding all charges are related.
Aside from the two bail jumping counts, the jury will still learn of the third charge, which is possession of a firearm by a felon.
“Really, these are directly related,” Graveley told Schroeder.
Schroeder, who did not make a formal decision, said he leaned toward denying the defense motion.
“I am inclined to deny the motion for severance,” said Schroeder.
As for the case in Walworth County, since the double homicide, Kivi was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and felony bail jumping.
Strangulation and suffocation along with battery, both felonies, were dismissed, but read-in at a June 25 plea hearing before Walworth County Circuit Court judge Kristine E. Drettwan.
Following Kivi’s Sept. 25 motion hearing, his next court appearance will be in January, when the double homicide case goes before a jury.
Kivi, who was convicted of burglary in 2012, had his parole revoked following both the double homicide and in Walworth County incident.
He is serving 13 years behind bars for violating his parole.