Trending
ELKINS -- The jury began deliberations in a murder trial in Randolph County Circuit Court Thursday - but were sent home for the day with no verdict reached.
After two days of witness testimony, Kenneth Gilliam, 59, on trial for first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his stepfather, took the stand himself Thursday afternoon to testify.
Gilliam was arrested after the March 5, 2022 stabbing death of his stepfather, Donald Kelly, 75, at the home Gilliam shared with his mother and Kelly on Diamond Street in Elkins. He was indicted in November 2022.
The prosecution, headed by Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Parker, rested its case Thursday morning after four more witnesses took the stand, including Joel Harvey and Bailey Hill, forensic scientists with the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory, and Sergeants David Simmons and Kenneth Corley of the West Virginia State Police, former members of the State Police Crime Team.
Harvey and Hill spoke on the DNA evidence they examined, while Simmons and Corley testified about what they saw when they arrived at the Kelly residence on March 5. Corley has since retired from the State Police.
After a brief recess, Gilliam's defense team, attorney James Hawkins Jr. from Harrison County and attorney Brent Easton from Tucker County, called Kimberly Jones to the stand. Jones and her husband, James Jones, have been the Kellys' and Gilliam's next-door neighbors since 2013.
On the stand, Kimberly Jones recalled an incident that occurred on May 30, 2016, in which Kelly was arrested for assaulting Gilliam.
She testified that in 2016 she witnessed Kelly throw Gilliam off the front porch twice and, while pinning Gilliam on the ground, began "smashing" Gilliam's head repeatedly on the stone walkway to the Kellys' house. Jones says she had to remove Kelly from being on top of Gilliam.
"And I said, 'You're going to kill him, Don'," Jones said on the stand Thursday. "(Kelly) said, 'That's what I'm f—-ing trying to do. I'm gonna kill him'."
Jones then said that Kelly and Gilliam both grabbed shovels and started to go toward each other until her husband came outside. She explained that other neighbors watched the fight as well and one of them called the police, who then arrived. Kelly was arrested for assault, though the charges were later dropped, officials said.
"Oh, (Kelly) hated him," Jones said. "He hated Kenny, and he wasn't afraid to say it."
James Jones, who was called to the stand after his wife, also said Kelly was the aggressor in the 2016 incident. James Jones was a former schoolmate of Gilliam's.
"(Gilliam) was flat on his back," James Jones told the court. "He wasn't able to fight. I don't know if he drank too much or what, but he wasn't able to defend himself and Don was on top of him just banging his head off the stones out there."
Jones agreed with his wife that Kelly "basically just hated" Gilliam, adding that Kelly "didn't care for him, wanted nothing to do with him."
Gilliam was called as the last witness for the defense. He was asked to recall the events that occurred on March 5, 2022. He willingly chose to take the stand in his own defense.
On the stand, Gilliam explained that he called 911 initially because he worried about Kelly hurting him or his mom, and wanted someone to be sent to their home to help. After hanging up on 911, Gilliam said he was cutting onions for a sandwich when Kelly came into the kitchen and yelled at him for calling 911 in the first place. He said Kelly grabbed him by the arms and spun him around, before pulling him closer. At that point, Gilliam said he held out the knife and Kelly was stabbed.
"I was scared for my life," Gilliam told the court.
According to the 2022 criminal complaint, Gilliam called 911 to report that Kelly was cussing and making threats to him and his mother. He then told the operator, "If somebody don't come up here and get him, I'm about to kill him." After answering a few questions from the operator, Gilliam then said, "never mind, you can't do anything, I will" before hanging up the phone.
911 reportedly called back to check on the situation and spoke with Betty Kelly, Gilliam's mother, who said nothing was wrong. Around 10 minutes later, Gilliam called 911 back and said he had just stabbed Kelly in the chest area. The complaint also says Gilliam told dispatchers that he used a kitchen knife.
When asked by Hawkins, Gilliam said he was afraid of Kelly, saying that Kelly had made threats in the past that he would "plant" Gilliam and his mom and "they would do nothing about it." Gilliam said he believed these were threats on their lives. Gilliam described the feeling of Kelly's hands on his body as being akin to being "a mouse stuck in a trap."
However, Gilliam was adamant that he did not intend to kill or harm Kelly, only that he wanted to protect his mom and himself. He said after he stabbed Kelly, he went to call 911 again to get help.
"Why did you call 911 at that point?" Hawkins asked Gilliam.
"'Cause he was hurt. To get him help," Gilliam replied.
During cross-examination, Parker asked Gilliam if he said during the initial 911 call, "never mind, you can't do anything, I will." Gilliam responded that he intended to "take care of" himself and his mother if he had to.
Parker brought up that during the third 911 call, Gilliam was heard speaking to his mother while on hold. According to Parker, Betty Kelly said, "You know you're going to have to go to jail," and Gilliam responded, "I don't care."
Gilliam did not deny this, explaining during Hawkins' redirect that he knew it would be figured out that he was "in the right to do what (he) had to do."
Parker asked if Gilliam was scared of Kelly, then why did he stay in the home after the initial 911 call, to which Gilliam said he wanted to stay with his mother.
"Are you telling this jury that you were so afraid of Mr. Kelly, you called 911 and told them you were going to kill him rather than leaving the house?" Parker asked Gilliam.
"No. I called 911 to see if I could get help there 'cause I wasn't gonna leave my mother with him," Gilliam said.
"Are you telling the jury that you were so afraid of Mr. Kelly, that you made yourself a baloney sandwich rather than leave the house and get away from Mr. Kelly?" Parker then asked.
"I knew I had to stay there because of my mom," Gilliam replied.
The defense rested after Gilliam's testimony.
In closing arguments, Parker told the jury that this case was "just as simple as it is tragic."
"The defendant called 911 and told them that he was going to kill Mr. Kelly, and within 10 minutes he did exactly what he told 911 he was going to do. He stabbed Mr. Kelly and killed him," Parker said. "That's premeditation. That's deliberation. That's intent. Ladies and gentlemen, that is murder in the first degree."
In Easton's closing arguments, he explained to the jury that, if they handed down a guilty verdict for his client, they first had to be fully certain of Gilliam's guilt and that the state had proved its case.
"We have two counts here... In order for the jury to convict Mr. Gilliam of either of those, you must be satisfied that the state's proven beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element meets with those offenses," Easton said. "If they haven't, you can't convict. For example, if there's six elements and even if you feel five have been established... if you feel five, but not six. That's an acquittal. It's not like horseshoes, there's no points for getting close. It's all or none, and if it's none, it's not guilty."
The jury deliberated for around two hours on Thursday afternoon before being sent home after 5 p.m. The jury will continue deliberations today.