Apr. 17—ROCHESTER — An Olmsted County judge ruled on Wednesday, April 16, that some evidence was taken unconstitutionally in the criminal case of Connor Bowman, the Rochester man accused of poisoning his wife.
The state and defense submitted briefs in March and early April arguing whether certain evidence and search warrants would be admissible in court on grounds of First Amendment rights, medical privilege and exploratory rummaging and other reasons.
According to the omnibus order filed by District Judge Kathy Wallace, evidence in two of the exhibits permitted exploratory rummaging and the “use of unbridled discretion by law enforcement” when determining what data to search for and seize. The judge determined some information in the two exhibits were gathered through “unreasonable searches and seizures,” which are prohibited by the United States and Minnesota constitutions.
The exhibits included a search warrant to look through 14 electronic devices previously seized from Bowman’s residence and a search warrant for Bowman’s iPhone one month after he was arrested.
Some of the evidence gathered within the two search warrants will still be admissible in court. However, the judge ruled that the following information would be stricken from the warrants: texts, emails, photographs, notes and audio files or videos involving controlled substances, financial matters, divorce and personal relationship information; text messages regarding conversations about controlled or toxic substances, financial matters, divorce and personal information; and internet browsing history involving searches about toxic and controlled substances, financial matters, divorce and personal relationship information.
Law enforcement arrested Bowman on Oct. 20, 2023. He was indicted in January 2024 by a grand jury for first-degree premeditated murder. He also faces a charge of second-degree murder in the 2023 death of Betty Bowman .
She died on Aug. 20, 2023, after she went to an emergency room days earlier complaining of diarrhea and dehydration. She told a friend that she had been drinking with her husband the night before she went to the hospital and that a smoothie he gave her made her sick. Connor Bowman is accused of using colchicine, a drug used to treat gout, to poison her.
The couple lived in Rochester, where Betty worked as a hospital pharmacist, while Connor worked as an internal medicine resident.
The next hearing for Bowman has not been scheduled as of Thursday morning, April 17.