Letter: Evidence in Kevin Hilton case shows reasonable doubt
Hopefully, clearer heads in the Washington Supreme Court will prevail on some of the real evidence in the Kevin Hilton case.
Detective Simon Mantel of the Kennewick Police Department did the forensic work on the computers in this case. The state’s theory was that the crime occurred between 6:42 to 7:41 p.m. The evidence showed that Hilton was on his computer at 7:41 p.m. and again from 7:50 p.m. to 8:10 p.m., with him arriving at Hanford High School for volleyball at 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
The evidence from the Ulrich’s computer shows that, in Detective Mantel’s words, “user initiated activity” occurred until 8:07 p.m. The state also had a computer expert from Battelle confirm the validity of Mantel’s forensic findings.
If I had been a juror and had been presented with these crucial facts and evidence, I would have certainly had reasonable doubt in this case.
H. A. Eggers
Kennewick
This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Evidence in Kevin Hilton case shows reasonable doubt."