German found guilty on 3 counts

Twelve jurors in Chase County, Nebraska, needed about four hours to decide the state had proven its case against Kevin German beyond a reasonable doubt.

Jurors got the case at 3:04 on Tuesday, Aug. 2. About 11 a.m. Wednesday, jurors notified the bailiff they had reached a verdict.

By 11:25 a.m., attorneys for the state and German had  gathered and the verdicts were read by District Court Clerk Debbie Clark.

On count one, jurors found German guilty of murder in the second degree of Annika Swanson.

On count two, German was found guilty of kidnapping Annika Swanson.

On count three, jurors convicted German of first-degree false imprisonment of Eve Ambrosek.

Following the reading of the verdicts, District Judge Patrick Heng polled each of the jurors, asking them if this was their verdict. All answered yes.

Count one was originally murder in the first degree while count three was kidnapping of Ambrosek.

During his instructions to the jury, Judge Heng said they could find German guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.

He defined second-degree murder as one that the defendant, either independently or while aiding and abetting another, did kill Swanson and that the defendant, either independently or while aiding and abetting another, did so intentionally but without premeditation.

If the elements necessary for kidnapping were not present, they could find for first-degree false imprisonment of Ambrosek.

Sentencing will be at a later date following a pre-sentence investigation.