On Saturday, September 29, 2012, at 2:45 a.m., University police found
Alexandra Kogut dead in her dorm room.
Kogut was eighteen years old and a communications major at The College
at Brockport located in Brockport, New York. A medical examiner determined that she died as a result of
blunt force trauma. Clayton
Whittemore, a twenty-one year old New York college student was accused of
killing Kogut. Whittemore told a
sheriff’s deputy he “just snapped” and beat his girlfriend with his fists and a
curling iron while visiting her at college.
Whittemore detailed the killing to an officer on September 29th, after
his arrest earlier that day, according to a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
report. Whittemore was arrested around
4:00 a.m. at a rest stop 100 miles away from the crime scene. Whittemore’s father said his son
called him from the roadside that night and said that he did something “really
bad.” “When I asked him what he
did, he told me and I talked to him about turning himself in. My concern was for his safety. I was able to talk to him and I called
911. My son was cooperative and
turned himself in,” stated Whittemore’s father.
Whittemore, who was on a suicide watch in jail, allegedly asked to
speak with a sheriff’s deputy so he could “clear his mind” according to court
documents. When the deputy asked
what it was he wanted to talk about, Whittemore stated, “I killed my
girlfriend,” the court documents allege. Whittemore
allegedly told authorities he was visiting Kogut at her campus that weekend
when they decided to go to a friend’s house to have a drink. The sheriff’s report states Whittemore
said Kogut “was being rude to him the entire time” they were at the house. The report also stated that on
the way back to Kogut’s dorm room, Whittemore told authorities he received an open
container ticket, and that “made him angry.”
Allegedly, police said that Whittemore told them that Kogut and
Whittemore began to argue about “stupid stuff” when they got back to Kogut’s
dorm room. According to court
documents, Whittemore said “she started pushing me and yelling at me.” Additionally Whittemore continued to
talk to police and said “so I pushed her back against the wall to get her to
stop. She wouldn’t stop pushing
me, so I started punching her and just snapped.” Police said, according to documents, that Whittemore told
them he repeatedly hit Kogut with his fists and was trying to kill Kogut.
“Her breathing sounded bad, like there was blood or something blocking
her breathing,” authorities said Whittemore told them. “I didn’t want the girl I loved to
suffer, so I started beating her with a curling iron until the noise stopped,” Whittemore
said, according to the report. Whittemore
also allegedly stated he knew Kogut was dead when he left the dorm room. “I wasn’t even drunk, I just snapped,”
Whittemore told police, the documents state.
Whittemore’s attorney, John Leonard, told The
Utica Observer-Dispatch that in regards to the sheriff’s report,
“These are not facts—these are statements allegedly made by our client to some
officer. We don’t know what stress
he was under, how long he had been up, the circumstances under which they were
made—if they were even made—or how accurate they are. These are not facts. Facts come out on the witness stand.”[1] Because it is yet to be determined
whether Whittemore’s multiple statements will be admissible at trial, Leonard
is concerned of the hardship of finding an impartial jury as “details are out
there for the whole world to see.”
Leonard also said, “We have only just now been given a good deal of
material regarding statements taken from Mr. Whittemore subsequent to his
arrest. We need to examine that
and review it with him. Obviously,
we cannot comment on any of that at this time. ”
The
Utica Observer-Dispatch reports Whittemore pleaded not guilty to
second-degree murder in Monroe County Court on Thursday, October 25, 2012.[2] He
is currently being held without bail at the Monroe County Jail and is due back
in court on December 18, 2012.
Whittemore’s trial could be as early as March of 2013. Whittemore could face up to twenty-five
years to life in prison if convicted of murder.
It is not surprising to see that Kogut’s murder was highly publicized
as it is only one of many recent college associated murders this year. That being said, defense attorney
Leonard has a right to be concerned whether alleged statements made by
Whittemore will be admissible at trial; and how the media’s ability to print
these alleged statements will impact Whittemore’s ability to obtain a fair and
impartial jury. Whittemore’s
defense counsel will not only need to discuss these alleged statements with
Whittemore; but also take a good look at how the statements were made and under
what conditions. For example, a
court will look at whether law enforcement read Whittemore his Miranda rights. Among others, the court may consider whether (1) the
defendant was in custody, which in this case Whittemore was in jail; and (2) whether
the defendant was being interrogated by law enforcement. The admissibility of any of the alleged
statements by Whittemore would have a great impact on how Whittemore is judged
by a jury of his peers.
Diana Cobo
Junior Blog Editor, Criminal Law
Brief
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