Print edition: 
The lawyer for Sam Holton asked a judge this week to throw out evidence in the double murder case involving the 18-year-old.
Wichita attorney Sal Intagliata claims authorities improperly arrested Holton and illegally searched his parents' Mulvane house following last November's slayings. That makes the evidence they seized — and Holton's confession in the killings — inadmissible at trial, Intagliata argued.
Prosecutor Marc Bennett, however, contends Holton's mother invited police to her house, and that she and Holton "laid evidence at the feet of law enforcement."
Bennett said Wichita police did not arrest Holton until after he had implicated himself in the killings of Adrian Jackson and Jessie Foust.
After hearing evidence over two days, Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman on Tuesday took the case under advisement. Trial is set to begin early next month.
Fateful holiday
Jackson, a rising local hip-hop artist, and Foust, a student at Wichita State University, were found dead in their home last Thanksgiving Day. Jackson's sister found the couple's two children, ages 4 and 1, with their parents' corpses Nov. 26 in their home on North Chautauqua.
Wichita police traced a white car seen at the house to Holton, who lived in Mulvane.
Detective Matt Hall testified that he picked up Holton at 2 a.m. Nov. 27 in Mulvane and asked him to go downtown to detective headquarters. Holton asked whether he could wait until morning. Hall said they couldn't wait.
Holton interviewed with homicide detectives until 6 a.m., giving them little information. Police said Holton then returned home.
What happened next led to the arguments in court this week.
Contacts with law enforcement
After 1 p.m. on Nov. 27, Holton's mother contacted a friend, Sedgwick County Deputy Justin Antle.
Rebecca Flagler testified that she told Antle her son had property from the killing. She said she had seen Holton wearing earrings that she recognized from a picture of Jackson on his MySpace page.
Flagler said Antle told her to take Holton's cell phone and car keys.
That moment, Intagliata argued, constituted Holton's arrest because he couldn't leave — even though there was no evidence against him.
Wichita homicide detective Tim Relph testified that Holton wasn't under arrest until after they returned to Mulvane.
Sitting in the living room, Holton admitted being at the house when the couple was shot, Relph testified.
Holton originally said another 17-year-old boy shot the couple. Later, Holton told detectives he fired the shot that killed Foust.
Intagliata said because police had already violated Holton's rights, his later admissions were obtained illegally.
Earrings, other items
Flagler also said she did not give detectives permission to enter her house.
Intagliata said that's a violation of the search and seizure protections under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Bennett argued Flagler invited police to her house.
"She called them," the prosecutor argued.
After Flagler talked to Antle, she testified, she then called Detective Hall, telling him she had evidence.
Upon his arrival, Flagler said she handed Hall the earrings that Jackson's family told police he always wore.
"They had reason to believe these were earrings taken off the dead man," Bennett said.
Flagler told detectives Holton was inside the house. No one objected to police entering, Bennett said.
Inside, Detective Chad Beard said he followed Holton into a bedroom. There, Holton showed Beard baseball caps, jewelry and hiking boots.
"He pointed and said, 'These need to go,' " Beard testified.
Policed later linked the items to Jackson's house.
More than an hour later, at police headquarters, Bennett said Holton told detectives, "I gave them (Beard and Hall) all this stuff."
