Kidwell v. State

444 S.E.2d 789, 264 Ga. 427, 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 2230, 1994 Ga. LEXIS 480
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJuly 5, 1994
DocketS94A0545, S94A0549
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 444 S.E.2d 789 (Kidwell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kidwell v. State, 444 S.E.2d 789, 264 Ga. 427, 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 2230, 1994 Ga. LEXIS 480 (Ga. 1994).

Opinions

Thompson, Justice.

Via a two-count indictment, Joyce Kidwell, Jeffrey Shields, Lori Shields, William Webster Shields, and Robert Dogenbaugh, were charged with the murder, and conspiracy to commit the murder, of Thomas Kidwell, Sr. The case proceeded to trial against Joyce [428]*428Kidwell, Jeffrey Shields and Lori Shields. In the midst of the trial, the State sought, and the trial court granted, immunity for Lori Shields. Thereafter, the jury found Joyce Kidwell and Jeffrey Shields guilty upon both counts of the indictment. The trial court merged the conspiracy conviction with the murder conviction and sentenced Kidwell and Shields to prison for life.1

1. Thomas Kidwell, Sr., and his wife, Joyce Kidwell were separated in August 1989. Joyce remained in the couples’ DeKalb County house. Thomas lived in a nearby condominium. He visited the house every day to get his mail and see the dogs.

For a period of time beginning in December 1989, Joyce Kidwell’s son, Jeffrey Shields, and daughter-in-law, Lori Shields, shared an apartment with Kevin Bennett and Betty Lynn Cahill. William Webster Shields, Joyce’s former husband and Jeffrey’s father, came to live with them after he was paroled from a Kentucky prison in March 1990. Lori and Jeffrey Shields were familiar with William’s criminal record.

Joyce Kidwell often visited with William Shields after he arrived at the apartment. On one occasion, she told William that if she could have Thomas Kidwell killed she would do it. William replied that he could “have it arranged” and that no one would know where, when, or how it was done.

Kevin Bennett and Betty Lynn Cahill moved out of the apartment in late March. Shortly thereafter, Robert Dogenbaugh escaped from a prison in Kentucky. He and William Shields had been in prison together and he too came to stay in the Shields’ apartment.

Kevin Bennett stayed in close touch with William, Lori and Jeffrey Shields. Jeffrey told Kevin that Robert Dogenbaugh was the “hit man” and that he was an escapee from a Kentucky prison. Kevin saw Joyce Kidwell talking with Robert and he heard Robert, William, Jeffrey and Lori Shields talk about killing Thomas Kidwell.

Subsequently, Joyce Kidwell told William Shields that Thomas Kidwell was in Florida on business and that “this would be . . . the perfect opportunity.” In short order, Kevin Bennett was offered $5,000 to drive William and Jeffrey Shields and Robert Dogenbaugh to Florida. The plan was to “slit [the victim’s] throat.” At first, Kevin decided to go along with the plan. The next morning, he changed his mind and told William Shields that he was backing out. William [429]*429Shields threatened to kill Kevin and Betty Lynn Cahill if he told anyone about the plan.

Thomas Kidwell was last seen alive on May 7, 1990. Four days later, on May 11, 1990, his body was found in the trunk of his car in Fulton County. Kidwell’s head and face had been beaten with a blunt object and he had been shot in the head. His body was wrapped in a blanket taken from the Kidwells’ house.

On May 8, 1990, a fire destroyed the Kidwells’ house. Investigators determined that an accelerant was used and that the cause of the fire was arson. The day before the fire, Lori Shields brought the Kidwells’ dogs to the apartment; Joyce Kidwell had dinner there and spent the night.

Joyce Kidwell was the beneficiary of insurance policies (totalling approximately $200,000) insuring the life of Thomas Kidwell. After the fire, but before Thomas Kidwell’s body was found, William Shields called Lori Shields from Florida and told her to “buy stock and invest your money.”

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Joyce Kidwell and Jeffrey Shields guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murder of Thomas Kidwell, Sr. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. During trial, the State presented evidence of other crimes committed by William Shields2 and Robert Dogenbaugh.3 Appellants contend the trial court erred in admitting such evidence because the other crimes were not “similar” and were not committed by the defendants on trial.

The evidence demonstrated that appellants knew William Shields and Robert Dogenbaugh had committed other crimes. Thus, the evidence of other crimes was relevant to prove that appellants knew of their co-conspirators’ capacity and/or propensity to kill Thomas Kidwell and that they procured them to kill him. See Baker v. State, 246 Ga. 317, 319 (271 SE2d 360) (1980) (evidence is relevant if it renders the desired inference more probable than it would be without the evidence). The trial court admitted the evidence for that limited purpose and gave ample and appropriate instructions along [430]*430those lines.4 Given the probative value of the evidence and the court’s limiting instructions, we find no error in the admission of this evidence.

3. Appellants’ assertion that the trial court failed to limit the jury’s consideration of the evidence of other crimes is without merit. The trial court charged the jury both before and after this evidence was admitted and in its final instructions that the evidence was to be considered for a “very limited purpose,” to wit: to determine whether William Shields and Robert Dogenbaugh were capable of murdering Thomas Kidwell and each defendant on trial knew that they were capable of killing him. The trial court made it clear that the jury was not to consider the evidence for any other purpose.

4. Appellants assert the trial court commented on the evidence in violation of OCGA § 17-8-57 when it instructed the jury on two occasions that the other crimes committed by Robert Dogenbaugh and William Shields were “very similar” to the facts surrounding the murder of Thomas Kidwell. The trial court merely informed the jury of the state’s contention that the other crimes were “very similar” to the crime in this case. Moreover, the defendants did not object to the instruction on the ground now asserted.

5. Appellants contend the state violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83 (83 SC 1194, 10 LE2d 215) (1963) by failing to provide them with transcripts from the trials of Robert Dogenbaugh and William Shields. They argue that if the transcripts had been turned over to them, they would have been able to demonstrate that the evidence of other crimes was inadmissible.

Appellants failed to allege or prove that the prosecution was in possession of the transcripts prior to or during the trial. See Cunningham v. State, 248 Ga. 558, 561 (284 SE2d 390) (1981) (Brady applies to discovery after trial of information which had been known to the prosecution but unknown to the defense). Besides, the transcripts were public records and just as accessible to defendants as to the state. See Conklin v. State, 254 Ga. 558, 566 (331 SE2d 532) (1985) (death certificate is public record which state does not have to furnish despite timely request pursuant to OCGA § 17-7-211).

6.

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Kidwell v. State
444 S.E.2d 789 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 S.E.2d 789, 264 Ga. 427, 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 2230, 1994 Ga. LEXIS 480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kidwell-v-state-ga-1994.