TECUMSEH  – After 11 hours of deliberation, a Johnson County jury declared itself deadlocked on charges of arson and livestock cruelty regarding a 2019 fire that destroyed a Tecumseh Poultry barn and killed 20,000 chickens.

The jury was deadlocked on a second degree arson charge, mistreatment of livestock and a felony criminal mischief charge all linked to events on April 5, but found 54-year-old Kimberly Bohling of Tecumseh guilty of misdemeanor criminal trespassing.

Attorneys made closing arguments Monday on the sixth day of the trial.

Although Fire Investigator Andrew Kreikemeier of the state Fire Marshal’s Office listed the cause of the fire as undetermined, prosecutor Jennifer Stehlik- Ladman was more confident.

Ladman: “She is the proximate cause of that fire.”

Defense Attorney Steven Lefler questioned the financial motivation for the chicken producers to get an arson conviction rather than accepting a cause of mechanical failure.

He noted that barns were tampered with Feb. 2, Feb. 23 and March 30 and there was no fire. He said the state alleges that multiple barns were tampered with on April 5, but only one burned.

Lefler: “Switch changes did not cause the fire.”

Lefler said even the company did not expect tampering to cause a fire. He said Tyson Foods describes a $1 million loss, including $20 for each of the market-ready chickens and a $320,000 barn. Yet, Lefler said, they did not put locks on the barns despite three tampering incidents.

State attorney Michael Guinan countered that GPS data showed Bohling’s phone near the gate of the chicken farm on each of the tampering incidents, but she did something different on the night of fire, April 5.

The state presented GPS mapping data that showed Bohling’s phone in a wooded area about a mile from the barn on April 5.

Guinan: “She picks a barn that is low to the ground and out of sight. She’s not getting a response to triggering the toggles, so she does something different.”

Prosecutors say Bohling was obsessed with revenge after she saw her former intimate partner and caretaker of 30 years, Carol McCann, in an embrace with the farm manager Steve Helser.

Tracks were found near the barn and farm gate prior to a tampering incident. Prosecutors say shoes with a similar tread were found at Bohling’s residence and similar tire tread was found on her Jeep.

Lefler asked the jury if they would feel better had the state presented a tire track expert regarding the alleged matches, rather than a deputy sheriff who took photographs.

Guinan noted that Bohling testified it was just her bad luck to have driven near the barn when there were incidents.

Guinan said her presence there was intentional. He said there was no tampering in the years prior to Bohling being fired and no tampering since her arrest.  Lefler noted, however, that there have been fires which were not caused by arson.

The case went to the jury just after 1 p.m. on Monday.

The state rested its case Saturday.

Investigator Kreikemeier explained his opinion of “undetermined” regarding the cause of the fire and said it is possible the fire was started on purpose or accidentally.

Prosecutors provided the jury with GPS mapping using Google data, with Kreikemeier providing location information as Bohling’s cell phone journeyed down roadways and returned to her garage.  Guinan often followed with a pen to show the jury the accuracy of the data on trips to Walmart and an attorney's office in Beatrice.

He also followed the cell phone to the chicken farm northeast of Tecumseh to a wooded area. To duplicate a possible route Bohling may have made, Kreikemeier said he walked from the wooded area to the barns and back to his vehicle in 33 minutes. Google data shows Bohling’s phone at  the wooded area for 42 minutes.

Defense Attorney Steve Lefler pointed out that there appears to be consistency linked to temperatures inside the barn in the time between when controls were tampered with and when an alarm is sent to  farm manager Steve Helser.

Lefler noted that the times Google data showed Bohling’s phone near the farm on Feb. 2, Feb. 23 and March 30 do not positively correlate with the times controls might have been tampered with.