HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Kansas Court of appeals has sided with the defendant in a Hutchinson murder case who 
sought to have his confession suppressed in his upcoming trial.
After Judge Tim Chambers suppressed some statements made in the case against Billy Craig Jr., for the murder of Jennifer Heckel, the state appealed his ruling and the case went before the court of appeals. This morning they issued an opinion that Judge Chambers ruling is correct. The defense wanted some statements made during taped interviews with law enforcement over the killing of Heckel suppressed, some prior to him being charged with murder, saying they didn’t believe the statements were made voluntarily.
The judge granted the motion to suppress for statements made on July 19, in a transport vehicle, an interrogation on August 12 and August 24, all in 2011. In some of these statements Craig’s apparently implicates himself as being involved in the killing of Heckel, which occurred on June 14, 2011, but later gets cold feet and says he made it all up. District Attorney Keith Schroeder says he has 30 days to make a decision on whether to take Craig to trial without the statements, or to ask for a review by the supreme court.
Craig and two others, are accused of killing Heckle in what was a case of mistaken identity.