LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence of a 29-year-old Kilgore man who murdered a Cherry County woman. In Aug. 2023, Kevin Kilmer was found guilty of the 2021 murder of 52-year-old Ruth Wittmuss. He was later sentenced in Cherry County District Court to life in prison for 1st Degree Murder and an additional 10 to 14 years for Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony.

Kilmer filed an appeal afterwards, arguing there wasn’t enough evidence to support the fact that he killed Wittmuss with deliberate and premeditated malice.

However, the state’s highest court upheld the conviction and sentence this month.

Here’s an excerpt from the decision:

“Circumstantial evidence showed a motive for the killing. There was evidence of increasing animosity between Wittmuss and Kilmer, who continuously fought with each other during the 3 days leading up to Wittmuss’ death. On the day she died, Wittmuss did not let Kilmer have any drugs, and there was a physical and verbal altercation, wherein Wittmuss continued to tell Kilmer to pack his belongings. The evidence suggested that Kilmer knew Wittmuss was planning on driving him back to Valentine on the day of her death. There was evidence that Kilmer did not want to leave. He did not have “anywhere else to go,” because he had been kicked out of his father’s house a week before. Also, Kilmer was “infatuated” with Malone, whom Kilmer presumably wanted to keep staying with at the trailer house. The jury could have inferred that Kilmer believed he could continue to stay with Malone at the trailer house if Wittmuss were dead. There was also circumstantial evidence that Kilmer wished to prevent Wittmuss from carrying out her threat to tell others about Kilmer’s “secret” relationship with Malone and that Kilmer was angry with Wittmuss because she had turned Malone against him. The manner in which Kilmer inflicted Wittmuss’ injuries also supported the jury’s finding of deliberate and premeditated malice. Kilmer struck Wittmuss in the back of the head with the ax at least three times over a couple of minutes, with two blows occurring after she had already fallen to the ground. The multiple blows from the ax were significant enough to fracture Wittmuss’ skull and leave blood spatter and brain matter in the trailer house. Kilmer told Schell that he saw the membrane between Wittmuss’ brain and her skull. The violent and repetitive nature of Wittmuss’ wounds supported the inferences that Kilmer knew the probable consequence of his actions would be Wittmuss’ death and that he formed the intent to kill her without legal justification. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Kilmer acted with deliberate and premeditated malice. We find no merit to Kilmer’s assignment of error challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. We affirm his convictions and sentences.”