 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Kelsey6/8/1998
Davis Adv. Sh. No. 21
S.E. 2d
Appeal From McCormick County Marc H. Westbrook, Judge
Heard February 4, 1998
AFFIRMED
This case involves the murder of fifteen-year-old Melanie Richey. Joseph Kelsey and Geoffrey Payne were tried together and convicted of Richey's murder. Kelsey appeals his conviction. We affirm.
FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In early July 1994, sixteen-year-old Kelsey was staying with his friend, seventeen-year-old Mike Kirchner in Martinez, Georgia. At the time, Kirchner's father was away from home on business. On Monday, July 11, 1994, Kirchner left to go to work, leaving Kelsey, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Payne, and seventeen-year-old Jamie Lynn Lee ("Defendants") alone in the house. Defendants decided to manufacture homemade pipe bombs. They initially constructed a bomb using copper tubing and gun powder extracted from firecrackers. They detonated the bomb near a tree in Kirchner's backyard.
Defendants then decided to construct more sophisticated pipe bombs. To accomplish this, they shoplifted pipe material and shotgun shells from a nearby hardware store and Wal-Mart. Under the direction of Kelsey, they built three galvanized steel pipe bombs, one of which they detonated in Kirchner's backyard. The explosion produced a crater approximately four inches deep and one foot wide. It left bomb fragments in the side of Kirchner's house and in a nearby privacy fence. Kelsey placed the other two unexploded bombs in his travel bag inside Kirchner's house.
Later that evening, Defendants gathered at Kirchner's house for a party. In addition to Defendants, the following individuals showed up for the party: Tom Wurtzinger, April Reese, Tommy Speigel, and Joey Ingram. Everyone was drinking beer. At around midnight, Lee and Payne left the party to go to a nearby Texaco station, a popular "hang-out" area among local teens. When Lee and Payne arrived at the station, they spotted Melanie Richey standing near a telephone booth. They noticed something was wrong with her foot. In the process of sneaking out of her house to meet with a friend, Richey had severely cut her foot. Lee and Payne offered to take Richey to Kirchner's house in order to clean and bandage her injuries. Richey accepted.
Lee, Payne, and Richey returned to Kirchner's house at around 1:30 a.m. Lee and Payne helped Richey bandage her foot and then all three re-joined the party. Soon thereafter, Payne and Richey went outside on Kirchner's back porch where Payne repeatedly tried to coax Richey into having sexual intercourse with him. Richey refused Payne's advances. At several points during the night, Payne expressed to Lee his frustration over Richey's intransigence. Kelsey testified that at one point he overheard Payne tell Lee that he was so mad he could kill Richey.
Payne instructed Lee to crush up a tablet of "Ecstacy," a mild hallucinogen. Payne poured the powder into a mixture of tea and water in order to hide the taste of the drug. Payne gave the drink to Richey and told her it would help calm a stomach-ache she had been complaining about earlier in the evening. Payne did not tell her that the drink was laced with Ecstacy. Kelsey testified that while this was going on, he was resting on the floor by the stereo and occasionally changing the music selection.
At around 3:30 a.m., Defendants decided to take Richey home. While Richey was waiting for Defendants outside of Kirchner's house, Payne asked Lee to get something to knock Richey out with. Lee retrieved a wrench from Kirchner's garage. Payne then suggested that Kelsey bring the unexploded pipe bombs. Kelsey complied by retrievi
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 South Carolina Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|