By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Kansas Supreme Court announced today that it has affirmed the conviction of a Hays man found guilty of murdering his wife.
Colby Trickle was convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife, Kristen Trickle, and interfering with law enforcement. The district court sentenced Trickle to a hard 50-year sentence.
On the morning of Oct. 31, 2019, 26-year-old Kristen Trickle was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head at her home. The 911 caller reported the incident as a suicide.
But according to then-Assistant Ellis County Attorney Aaron Cunningham, investigators reviewed the evidence. They determined that Kristen was murdered, and they identified her husband, Colby, as the main suspect.
Investigators determined that 10 days before Kristen was found dead, Colby Trickle searched the internet for information on how to collect on her life insurance policy.
Colby Trickle was also engaged in an online affair at the time, according to investigators.
Investigators also learned that Colby Trickle collected on Kristen’s life insurance policies, and he spent all of the money in just a few months after her death.
The court affirmed Trickle's convictions in Ellis County District Court for first-degree murder and interference with law enforcement.
Justice Caleb Stegall, writing for a unanimous court, held that the district court was correct in admitting expert testimony over the lone preserved objection, excluding a lay suicide witness, and admitting law enforcement audio and video recordings.
Additionally, the court held the district court did not indicate any judicial bias against Trickle.
Chief Judge of the 23rd Judicial District Court, Glenn Braun, presided over the trial. Braun has since retired.
Trickle argued numerous prosecutorial errors on appeal, but the court only found three: referencing a fact not in evidence, commenting that it was convenient for the defense to keep the fact out, and making flippant remarks about the truthfulness of the defendant in closing argument.
These errors, along with an error that the court assumed but did not decide regarding the admission of sex doll purchase evidence, did not affect the outcome of the trial either individually or cumulatively, according to the ruling.
The Trickle case was featured on "48 Hours" in 2024.
SEE RELATED STORY: 48 Hours to feature Hays death: 'Kristen Trickle Autopsy of the Mind'