GUILTY KS - Ali Kemp 19, murdered, Leawood, 18 June 2002

Johnson County prosecutors get the green light to use the post-arrest statement of the man accused of killing a college student at a public swimming pool.

Benjamin Appleby is charged with capital murder and attempted rape in the death of 19-year-old Ali Kemp. The Kansas State University student was killed in June of 2002 at the Leawood swimming pool where she worked.
http://www.wibw.com/news/headlines/1730201.html

Details that Benjamin Appleby told Leawood police about the 2002 killing of Ali Kemp can be used by prosecutors when his case goes to trial.

Johnson County District Judge Steve Leben ruled Monday that although it was a “close call,” Appleby’s 2004 statement should not be suppressed as the defense requested.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12690464.htm

A preliminary hearing for the man charged with killing Ali Kemp of Leawood will begin Sept. 28, a Johnson County District Court judge ruled Tuesday.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12698670.htm

Tyler Kemp was the first to testify in a hearing that will determine whether 30-year-old Benjamin Appleby will go on trial in the killing of Ali Kemp.

Appleby is charged with capital murder and attempted rape. He was arrested in November after authorities received two tips that led them to Connecticut, where he was living under a different name with a girlfriend. About a dozen persons, presumably family and friends, sat behind Appleby in the courtroom.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12767653.htm

The man accused of killing Ali Kemp appeared flustered last fall when told his mouth would be swabbed for DNA, a Connecticut detective testified today.

“He turned red and white and pale and started to ask me questions about what was going on,” said Det. Raymond Insalaco with the Connecticut State Police. “You could tell he was scared.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12774022.htm

Roger Kemp had heard the account of how his daughter was killed before.

But on Thursday, as videotape rolled in Johnson County District Court, he heard the details from the man accused of snuffing out her life.

There was Benjamin Appleby on the video, sobbing last fall as he told detectives how he beat and strangled 19-year-old Ali Kemp at a Leawood swimming pool on June 18, 2002. And just feet away from Roger Kemp was Appleby, sitting quietly at the defense table, seemingly composed.

District Judge Steve Leben ruled Thursday that prosecutors had provided enough evidence in the two-day hearing to put 30-year-old Appleby on trial for first-degree capital murder and attempted rape.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/12795409.htm

Several University of Kansas students raised money Wednesday in honor of Ali Kemp, a local teenager who was murdered in 2002.

The benefit in Lawrence included a cookout, music and self-defense lessons. The money raised Wednesday will benefit The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation, which sponsors self-defense classes for women.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13006111.htm

Attorneys for Benjamin Appleby today sought and got more time to prepare his defense in the Ali Kemp murder trial.

Appleby has fired his previous attorney and retained Angela Keck and Sarah Swain as his defense team.

Johnson County District Court Judge Steve Leben today set a July 2006 trial date in the case.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13013436.htm

A Connecticut man pleads not guilty to capital murder and attempted rape in the killing of a Kansas State University student three years ago.
Benjamin Appleby, 30, entered his plea in Johnson County District Court in Kansas today. A judge set a tentative trial date for next July 10.
http://www.wibw.com/news/headlines/1928582.html

The man accused of killing Leawood teen Ali Kemp wants his videotaped confession thrown out of court.

Benjamin Appleby was arraigned in Johnson County court Thursday.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/kshb/nw_local_news/article/0,1925,KSHB_9424_4194218,00.html

I saw this case on 20 / 20 tonight.... so sad. I wish the billboard idea would catch on nationwide.

SimonSays said:

I saw this case on 20 / 20 tonight.... so sad. I wish the billboard idea would catch on nationwide.

Click to expand...

I watched that tonight too.....Its so sad.....

Attorneys for a man accused of killing 19-year-old Ali Kemp of Leawood are asking for a delay in his trial, scheduled for three weeks in July.
They also want a new preliminary hearing for Benjamin Appleby and a new judge in the case.
In the motion seeking a delay, lead defense attorney Angela Keck stated that the defense needed more time partly because attorney Bob Thomas last month replaced Sarah Swain as co-counsel. Thomas needed time to familiarize himself with the case, the motion said.
On Wednesday, Johnson County District Judge Steve Leben filed an order saying that Swain could not withdraw from the case. Regulations of the Board of Indigent Defense Services, which hired Swain and Keck, allow an attorney to withdraw only when “a possible conflict of interest” exists. Swain cited no such conflict in her request, the judge said.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13605295.htm

This is the first I've heard of this case. Wasn't there anyone at the pool when this guy tried to rape and then ended up murdering Aly?

A Johnson County judge Monday refused to remove himself from presiding over the murder trial of Benjamin Appleby.
In a six-page ruling, District Court Judge Steve Leben denied the Jan. 11 request from Appleby’s attorneys for a new judge. Defense attorneys, who could not be reached, now have the option of filing a new motion asking a different judge to review their request.
Appleby, 30, is charged with first-degree murder and attempted rape in the killing of 19-year-old Ali Kemp of Leawood. She was strangled and beaten to death at a neighborhood swimming pool in 2002.
In the ruling, Leben wrote that defense attorneys contended at a hearing earlier Monday that his court was biased because it had set the trial date to accommodate the district attorney’s “political schedule.” In addition, Leben wrote, the defense contended his court was biased because it had directed prosecutors to amend the complaint against Appleby in a way that bolsters the evidence against him.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13695768.htm

This is going on in my neck of the woods. Not long ago, Applby's attorney tried to get his confession tossed out. He also wanted the DNA tossed. He got neither. Today I heard on the noon news that he confessed that he did indeed kill her, but that it wasn't premeditated.

His family believes he is innocent (at least that's what they were saying last night). I do understand that they would want to believe him, but with DNA at the crime scene, how would you explain that away? I guess his defense attorney decided they couldn't, so now they are going to try and get a lesser conviction.

I know his defense attorney is just doing his job. But to me it's not about guilt or innocence anymore. It's about what you can get tossed out on a technicality. And then go from there. The judge ruled that the DNA and original confession were in...so there was nowhere to go. What if the judge had tossed the confession and/or the DNA? Then this monster might have gotten off the hook to kill again. This brings me back to Westerfield's attorney who knew darn well his client was guilty and was brokering a deal for his client and when that fell through...this attorney went on to court and smeared Danielle's mom and dad all over the place. I don't know how these guys sleep at night. I've often wondered if Daniel Horowitz has a totally different outlook on these issues now that he has lost a loved one to a horrific crime.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/16123373.htm

Good feature article, from July 2013:

http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-20068.aspx

After the prosecution had asked for the death penalty — still legal in Kansas — defence lawyer Angela Kick argued that the killing had been unintentional and that the capital murder charge should be reduced to second-degree murder.

But District Attorney Paul Morrison told the court: "There was nothing negligent or accidental about this murder. After he beat his victim to death, Appleby had the presence of mind to cover her body. "He then left the district and changed his name. We argue that Appleby had every intention of punishing Ali Kemp for rejecting his advances and in this case punishment was death."

The jury agreed. It took them less than three hours to find Benjamin Appleby guilty of first degree murder and he was given what is known as the "hard 50" — 50 years in jail before parole is considered.

Click to expand...

Convicted killer Benjamin Appleby’s appeal of his Hard 50 sentence has been denied.

On Thursday, a Johnson County judge Thursday denied Appleby’s request that his sentence be thrown out.


Benjamin Appleby

Appleby had argued that his Hard 50 sentence was decided by a judge and not a jury, as required by an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Kansas law automatically required his sentence be modified.

In 2002, people around the Kansas City metro and the nation were shocked at the brutal murder of Kansas State student Ali Kemp. She was beaten, battered and strangled in the pump house of the Leawood neighborhood pool where she worked.

Judge denies request by Ali Kemp’s killer to have his Hard 50 sentence thrown out