Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Grode told an Outagamie County jury that “there is no way” the victim at the center of Samantha Krebs’ homicide trial committed suicide.
The prosecution and defense presented closing arguments Sept. 11 at the Outagamie County Courthouse in Appleton, which were aired on Court TV.
Krebs, 40, of Appleton, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the July 18, 2024, death of her fiancée, a 35-year-old Appleton man. The victim was killed by a stab wound that punctured his heart.
Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said Krebs stabbed the victim while high on methamphetamine after an argument, then spent days trying to cover up her intentional crime.
Krebs and her defense team say the stab was self-inflicted. Defense attorney Kirk Obear clarified during closing statements that the defense doesn’t know whether the wound occurred from an intentional suicide attempt or an accident.
The jury listened to five full days of testimony ahead of closing statements, including testimony from Krebs. Just after 11 a.m. Sept. 11, they began deliberations.
If convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, Krebs will face a mandatory life sentence.
Samantha Krebs of Appleton appears in Outagamie County Circuit Court on Sept. 3, the first day of her homicide trial. Krebs is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and accused of stabbing her fiancée.
Prosecution says Krebs’ story is ‘full of holes’
Much of the prosecution’s closing argument focused on discrediting Krebs’ testimony. Grode told the jury he was not trying to shift the burden of proof by focusing on Krebs’ story, but asking them whether the defense’s claims were reasonable.
“This is our burden to prove this … beyond any reasonable doubt, but the defendant presented you with this story,” Grode said. “And my argument to you, ladies and gentlemen, is that it is more full of holes than a cheese grater.”
According to Obear, the victim had been “deteriorating mentally” during an ongoing custody battle with another woman and on top of already struggling with his mental health. Obear also said notes from past visits to the Department of Veterans Affairs show a history of suicidal thoughts.
Grode argued that there is no evidence pointing to the victim being suicidal. He reviewed several text messages from the day of the incident, which he argued contradicted the idea that the victim was “going off the deep end.”
One text message Grode highlighted was from less than 10 minutes before the alleged homicide and showed the victim asking a friend for clean urine to pass an upcoming drug test after he had relapsed and used meth that night.
“Less than 10 minutes before the homicide, (the victim) is making future plans,” Grode said. “The defendant wants you to believe that 10 minutes after this he took his own life. Nothing suggests that. Nothing but her self-serving testimony.”
Grode also argued Krebs’ story was unreasonable based on how many things she claimed happened in the 10 minutes between the victim sending that text message and Krebs’ friends entering the apartment and seeing the victim wounded on the ground.
Defense says state’s case is ‘primarily speculation’
To begin the defense’s closing argument, Obear asked the jury to focus on the facts. A lot of the state’s case, he said, was “innuendo, suspicion and a lot of conjecture.”
“The majority of what’s happened in this case, the evidence that’s been presented to you, has been primarily speculation,” Obear said. “I want you to focus on the facts.”
The state used many phone calls and text messages to demonstrate individuals’ actions and behaviors on the day in question, which Obear said doesn’t give the full story. People also have interactions in person that aren’t recorded, he said.
“You’re just getting a glimpse around the edges and it’s incomplete,” Obear said.
Obear specifically pushed back on an audio recording that captured Krebs’ friends’ initial response when they walked into her apartment that day. First, he argued, there wasn’t enough testimony about where the recording came from or its accuracy.
The recording was taken by an app on one of the friends’ phone that recorded phone calls, Tempelis said during the state’s rebuttal. The friend had attempted to call Krebs as he was walking up to the apartment, prompting the recording.
For the state’s closing argument, Grode played surveillance video of the apartment’s parking lot with the audio recording playing over top, matched to the actual times of each to demonstrate how long Krebs and her friends waited to call 911.
“As (the victim’s) lying on the ground, his life being taken away from him, seconds slip by as they could have called 911,” Grode told the jury as the video is silent before the recording picks up a 911 call made minutes later. “And what do we hear?”
Obear argued the video “doesn’t sound like it’s continuous,” questioning its accuracy.
Grode argued the first thing heard in the recording when Krebs’ friends’ enter the apartment is one friend saying, “You stabbed.” He said the statement was an “excited utterance,” made before the friend had a chance to try to protect Krebs.
“So however that scene was when he walked in, that’s the first impression before he had any chance to modify it,” Grode said.
Obear asked the jury to decide for themselves what is said in the recording. He said that specific statement is very unclear and “a mumble.”
“The state is hanging their hats on their interpretation of these mumbled words out of context,” Obear said. “Any proof that she actually stabbed (the victim), that’s missing. It’s completely absent. They’re asking you to make assumptions.”
Attorneys disagree on interpreting Krebs’ actions after incident
There was a heavy focus in the state’s case on Krebs’ behavior in the days after the incident. In the state’s rebuttal, Tempelis said Krebs’ actions were “her process of concealment.”
The prosecution noted that Krebs didn’t call 911, left the scene before police arrived, went to a friends’ house for days, made contradicting statements to many people, and a friend removed identifying decals from Krebs’ car the night of the incident. Grode also stated that the clothes Krebs was seen wearing that night have never been found.
“Nobody does that to hide a suicide,” Tempelis said. “And nobody does that to hide meth.”
Obear said that Krebs was reacting to a stressful situation and there is “no textbook way” to act after a situation like this. The defense has also stated that Krebs left the scene after one of the friends told her to because she had been using illegal drugs and had them in her possession.
“This entire case is boiled down to the state really criticizing the way that Samantha responded to this situation,” Obear said. “Therefore, they want to infer, they want you to make that leap, to say that she must have killed (the victim) because she didn’t act the way they want you to believe a person should act in that situation.”
Grode argued Krebs’ behavior showed an attempt to cover up an intentional crime. By its legal definition, intent to kill can be formed in seconds, Grode said, which he believes is the case with Krebs.
“She formed the intent to kill him, she did and then did everything she could to cover this up,” Grode said.
Tempelis asked the jury to use their common sense when deliberating. The defense claimed there is no evidence Krebs knew the victim was going to die when she left the apartment. Tempelis said that doesn’t make sense, as Krebs has testified that the victim was “gushing blood” and unconscious.
“When that’s happening and when she’s walking out, it is dire,” Tempelis said. “The truth is she’s guilty and I ask you to return that verdict today.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@greenbay.gannett.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Samantha Krebs Outagamie County homicide trial jury begins deliberation