Testimony begins in 2010 JC murder case

Defense attorney Jan King, right, talks with defendant Keith Kellner during Kellner’s trial Monday at the Cole County Courthouse. Photo by Stephen Brooks.

By News Tribune

Originally published June 11, 2012 at 4:57 p.m., updated June 11, 2012 at 10:10 p.m.

The first day in the trial of a Jefferson City man accused of killing his wife in December 2010 saw testimony from family and co-workers, who said he constantly threatened the victim and that she was living in fear prior to her death.

Keith Kellner, now 49, is facing first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges in the death Pam Kellner, while she was working at the McDonald's Restaurant on Jefferson Street.

Cole County Assistant Prosecutor Anji Gandhi said Pam was trying to get out of the marriage at the time she was killed.

Gandhi said Pam had moved out of the home she shared with Keith a few days prior to the shooting, which infuriated Keith.

Gandhi said Keith sent numerous threatening text messages, including one that said: "The only way out of this relationship is dead."

Keith and Pam worked together at the Missouri Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle License Bureau, and co-workers testified that Keith would never let Pam go anywhere without him, even getting up to follow her when she just left her desk to go to another part of the office.

The night before the killing, Keith had tried to follow Pam after she left the office, but Pam was able to lose him.

Keith's lawyer, Public Defender Jan King, argued that Keith had been depressed and on the night of the killing had gone to the restaurant to kill himself, not Pam.

King said Keith had his hand on the trigger of the gun in the pocket of his coat while the two were talking at the restaurant.

He said Keith intended to put the gun against his own head but, as he was taking the weapon from the pocket, he hit the table and the gun went off, with the shot striking Pam.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.

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Graceful 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Is anyone gonna buy that defense?

tonto_goldberg 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Not me. Not very creative, is he?

mia 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Pam was THE nicest lady. Very tragic for all.

PatsyDecline 11 months, 2 weeks ago

I wouldn't wish Mr. King on any person....he's the worst PD in Central MO by far.

JCLifer 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Public servants in Missouri- you don't get the best being #50th!

gofish 11 months, 2 weeks ago

If the gun was double action, meaning it requires a full trigger pull to fire the first shot, that defense is out the window on day one. Either way, I've never known any gun to fire simply by striking it on a table. It still requires the trigger to be pulled, not just vibrated. However, the goal of a defense attorney is to prove reasonable doubt, not innocence.

tonto_goldberg 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Creating a reasonable doubt would require a plausible explanation, right?

So maybe they need to claim that he had a defective gun, which fired when he bumped that gun on the table as he was pulling it out of his pocket to shoot himself. This is beginning to sound more like a comedy routine than a murder defense. Perhaps an insanity plea would work better.

John 11 months, 2 weeks ago

This is incorrect information is so many ways. . .

Double-action means ONLY that the sidearm MAY be, not MUST be, fired without being manually "co-ked" (add the letter c and delete the hypen) by pulling an exposed hammer back to the "co-ked" position or in some other way. This is true regardless whether the sidearm is a revolver or semi-automatic.

MANY sidearms can fire when dropped or struck or rapped against a hard surface when there is a round in the chamber if they are not on safe. (One of the reasons that western-style revolvers were carried with an empty chamber in the cylinder.) Modern sidearms that have been tampered with or are improperly maintained are also susceptable to this problem, as are some cheap sidearms.

Only the manufacturer, Glock, makes a sidearm where the safety is built into the trigger, thereby requiring the trigger to be pulled before the firing pin may access the primer.

John 11 months, 2 weeks ago

This should read . . MANY sidearms can fire when dropped or struck or rapped against a hard surface when there is a round in the chamber. (This is true for a revolver whether co-ked or not and for a semi-automatic when co-ked and not on safe -- this is the reason western-style revolvers were carried with an empty chamber in the cylinder,) Modern sidearms that have been tampered with or are improperly maintained are also susceptable to this problem, as are some cheap sidearms.

wow 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Sickening, just sickening. This Defense Attorney should have his license pulled after whihc time he should be jailed!

TickledPink 11 months, 2 weeks ago

For what?

wow 11 months, 2 weeks ago

TickledPink, if I have to tell you the answer to that, then it's already to late.

TickledPink 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Well I hate to think I might have missed the bus on something crucial. I believe it's never too late. Do you have an issue with the defense of guilty people in general or is it Mr. King in particular? You'll get no argument with me on Jan King being one of the most ineffective public defenders I've ever seen. I'm sure that's why he's been in the PD's office for 30 years.

I was actually quite pleased to see that this case took so little of the court's time. He was clearly guilty, the defense had a ridiculous argument and the prosecution and jury did their job.

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