Kerr's lawyers rest case; defense testimony begins

With two of her attorneys seated at left, Pat Rowe Kerr, at right, listens to Judge Jon Beetem's jury instruction Monday, July 11, 2016 in her case against Larry Kay in Cole County Circuit Court.
With two of her attorneys seated at left, Pat Rowe Kerr, at right, listens to Judge Jon Beetem's jury instruction Monday, July 11, 2016 in her case against Larry Kay in Cole County Circuit Court.

After a week of testimony, lawyers representing a former worker of the Missouri Veterans Commission who is suing the commission and its director for gender and age discrimination, as well as sexual harassment, rested their case Monday.

Pat Rowe Kerr was terminated as outreach director of MVC in November 2009. Director Larry Kay maintains she was terminated because of a gubernatorial veto directing the commission to eliminate a position.

Among the last witnesses Kerr's attorneys called was her psychologist, Laurel Kramer, who diagnosed Kerr with post traumatic stress disorder and major depression after she was dismissed from her job.

"After she was fired, she was shocked and traumatized because she felt like she had been doing a good job," Kramer told jurors.

Jurors also heard testimony from witnesses who could not be in attendance, so parts of their depositions were read into evidence by Kerr's lawyers.

Among those testifying by deposition was Bryan Hunt, the commission's deputy director, who was asked about a veterans event he and Kay attended in Odessa after Kerr was terminated. Hunt said Kerr tried to ask several questions and that Kay did eventually tell the crowd Kerr had a lawsuit against him and didn't feel comfortable answering questions from her and left the meeting.

On Monday afternoon, the lawyers for Kay and the commission began calling witnesses.

One of those was Jill Talken, the executive secretary for the executive director's office at the commission for 14 years, which includes directors prior to Kay taking the job.

Talken told jurors Kerr had told her Kay had "changed some over there," referring to Kay's time leading National Guard troops in Kosovo in 2008. Talken said Kerr told her to be careful "because of his temper." However, Talken said, she never had any problems when Kay came back and took the executive director's position in 2009.

Talken said she never saw Kay mistreat, insult or yell at Kerr, but Kerr would tell her of the outbursts.

Talken testified she was caught off guard when Kerr was dismissed.

Talken was shown an email from not long after Kerr was fired in November 2009. In the email sent to several people in the MVC office including Talken, it advertised a job opening with the Wounded Warrior Project. Kay forwarded the email back to Talken, suggesting she forward it to Kerr.

"LOL Are you (expletive) me?" was the reply that was shown to the jury from Talken to Kay.

When asked why she put "LOL" on the response, she replied, "I don't know." She also said she didn't know if she ever forwarded this onto Kerr. Kerr's attorney pointed out Talken was not reprimanded for the email.

Becky Wolken, who was Kay's secretary when he was the deputy director of the commission, testified Monday there were multiple times Kerr would ask her where Kay was while Kerr served as the ombudsman.

Wolken said Kerr would hang out as long as 45 minutes at her desk, waiting for Kay to get back. Wolken also said Kerr had wanted a door to be put in her office that would allow her to see when Kay was coming in and out of the office.

Wolken testified there were three instances she could think of where Kay and Kerr had disagreements but was never aware of the specifics of those disagreements.

Melissa Wilding, the current ombudsman for the commission, testified Monday she worked with Kerr prior to the dismissal. Wilding said she knew Kay wanted to split the ombudsman and outreach programs, but she never saw Kay threaten Kerr if she didn't take the outreach position.

Kerr's lead attorney, Jerome Dobson, cross-examined most of the defense witnesses and noted each was younger than Kerr when she was let go, and since his client was dismissed there had been no new programs done by the commission to help veterans.

Assistant Attorney General Douglas Leyshock, the lead attorney for the commission and Kay, countered there were a number of representatives available to handle claims of veterans if they needed help.

Dobson said a June 2007 memo from Kerr to Kay noted Wilding had lied to Kerr about things taking place in the office, and there were also times Wilding had tried to go over Kerr's head on office matters.

One of those times, Dobson said, was later in 2007 when Kerr was eventually reprimanded for her work on a program to help a soldier and his family. Wilding testified Monday they had been told by state officials they needed to look carefully at how fundraising for individual soldiers was done.

Wilding testified Monday she wrote a memo asking for better direction about the fundraising activity. Executive Director Hal Dulle was not available, Wilding testified, so she took the memo to Katy who was the deputy director at the time.

Dobson argued she should have waited for Dulle to handle the matter since he was executive director.

Kay's attorneys have argued that Kerr's desire to take on projects that fell outside of her job was one of the main reasons she and Kay were often at odds.

Arguments in the case are scheduled to continue throughout the week.

Previous coverage:

Kay defends termination of Kerr, July 15, 2016

Budget constraints questioned during Kerr trial, July 14, 2016

Kerr testifies as trial continues, July 13, 2016

Kerr's harassment suit spills into court, July 12, 2016

Pat Rowe-Kerr sues Veterans Commission, Kay on several issues, July 26, 2011