Courtesy Photo­Image Ashly Clark

Courtesy Photo­Image Lacy Beyer

Courtesy Photo­Image Bryson Eyten

Courtesy Photo­Image Samantha Eyten

Critical evidence in the ‘kid kennelers’ case will not be heard in court because the defendants were not advised of their Miranda rights, Lincoln County District Court Judge Richard Birch has ruled.

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Four adults were charged with child abuse at 1 a.m. Oct. 25 and jailed. The next day, there were interviewed by child and family services workers.

They were jailed, hand-cuffed, shackled with a belly chain and taken later that day to an interview with Health and Human Services workers. But they were not advised of their right to remain silent or have an attorney present – commonly called “Miranda rights” – named for the Supreme Court decision that ruled those rights must be read.

Two young boys were allegedly caged in a portable dog kennel where the four – Ashly Clark, Lacy Beyer, Samantha and Bryson Eyten – lived.

News of their arrests spread throughout the country.

Police statements

Police responded to the home on a report of possible child abuse late on the night of Oct. 24.

When the first officer arrived at 11 p.m., he saw a yard and a mobile home that had “trash everywhere, was dirty, covered with feces and smelled of urine,” according to the court ruling.

The policeman spoke to Ashly Clark at the door, and could see in the hallway that leads to the kitchen “trash and clothes piled all over, and smelled urine and feces,” the ruling said.

Soon, Lacy Beyer also came to the door. She called the homeowner, Bryson Eyten, home from work. The police officer called for assistance, and another officer arrived.

By then, police already had probable cause to search the home at that time, but they decided to wait until Eyten arrived. When Eyten arrived about 11:30, he gave the cops permission and they went inside.

They saw “in plain view the condition in which the defendants and children were living,” Birch wrote. “They also located two young boys sleeping in a metal dog kennel and two other children sleeping in a bedroom.”

The fourth adult who lived there, Samantha Eyten, arrived at 12:40 a.m.

Eleven minutes later, the policemen arrested all four.

Before the arrest, none of the four were restrained or “told they could not leave,” Birch wrote, so statements made during that time can be used as evidence.

Ruling

But after 12:51 a.m. all four were in custody and under arrest. They were not advised of their Miranda rights, so statements made then, including interviews the next day with Health and Human Services workers, cannot be used as evidence against them.

Those statements “should be and are hereby suppressed,” Birch ruled.

HHS, custody

The HHS interviews at the jail were conducted by the state employees who are technically not law officers.

But Birch said that didn't make a difference; the suspects still should have been advised of their Miranda rights by that time.

They were in custody, he said, and the HHS is part of the prosecution.

"It was there job to conduct an investigation on behalf of the state into the welfare of the children in the home," Birch wrote. "This investigation clearly overlapped with the investigation of the police, and was instigated by a report from the police.... Further, one of the caseworkers, while not a certified law enforcement officer, was employed as a part-time detention officer at the Lincoln County Jail."

Charges

Because two boys, ages five and three, were sleeping in a wire animal kennel with a mattress inside, Clark, Beyer and the Eytens were each charged with two counts of felony child abuse and two counts of false imprisonment.

The door to the 30-by-42-inch wire dog kennel was tied shut with wire, police said.

Two other children -- an 8-year-old and an 8-month-old baby -- were not in the kennel but were in unsafe conditions, according to the police.

Ashly Clark, the mother of the two boys in the kennel, said she was afraid the boys might climb out the window, police said.

The other two children belonged to the Eytens.

Police said all four were aware of the living conditions and confinement of the two boys.

Police also said there was no evidence suggesting the children were physically beaten or malnourished.

The Eytens paid the required 10 percent of $25,000 bonds Dec. 16 and were released from the Lincoln County Jail. Clark and Beyer paid the same amount on Feb. 8 and were released.

On March 6, a judge allowed Clark to have three supervised visits a week with her boys.