PORTLAND, Maine — Defense attorney Daniel Lilley rested his case Monday afternoon in the murder trial of Yarmouth lobsterman Merrill Kimball without calling Kimball to the stand.
But Kimball’s wife, Karen Kimball, spent most of the day answering questions about what she saw the afternoon of Oct. 6, 2013, when Merrill Kimball, 72, shot and killed 63-year-old Leon Kelley at a North Yarmouth bee farm owned by 95-year-old Stan Brown.
Kelley was Brown’s son-in-law.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Crockett hammered at Karen Kimball for much of the afternoon, attempting to poke holes in her testimony, which at times contradicted itself.
The prosecution and defense acknowledge Merrill Kimball shot Kelley three times that afternoon, but Lilley has argued Kimball shot the much larger Kelley in self-defense because Kelley confronted him and pushed him in a threatening manner.
Prosecutors argue Kelley and other family members had become concerned at the extent of Karen Kimball’s involvement in Brown’s business and finances, and they suspected she was taking advantage of the older man, particularly after learning he’d added her to his will, leaving her the bee business and leaving the property to a land conservancy.
“Stan wanted to keep the business going after he was gone, and he knew that I would,” Karen Kimball said Monday.
On Monday, Kimball testified she kept bees at her farm in Massachusetts before moving to Maine and after buying local honey from Brown in 2009 began helping the elderly man by stocking shelves as Brown was “developing dementia.”
The two became good friends, Kimball said, and she helped him, particularly because Brown’s family members “weren’t around very often at all.”
In 2013, Kimball said, she invested in 48 hives, paying for used hives with labor and new hives with cash. She tended those hives, along with about 10 of Brown’s. According to Kimball, Brown sold all the beekeeping supplies and kept the profits, and Kimball sold the bees and honey and kept those profits.
But in the months before the shooting, Kimball began seeing Brown’s family members at the farm more often, she said. In September 2013, Brown’s granddaughter, Robin Rawnsley-Dutil, sent Kimball an email telling her all the hives belonged to Brown, and that because Brown had added Kimball to his will, Kimball was required to clean house, cook and stack firewood for Brown.
In response to questioning by Lilley, Kimball said she then called Libby Adams, Brown’s daughter-in-law, who also helped with the business, and “she made a suggestion that I should get my honey out of there,” because Kimball had a receipt for the equipment but not for the honey.
Kimball said she wanted to retrieve her honey — about a dozen 50-gallon buckets Lilley said was worth about $5,000 — that day because her son and husband could help.
Under cross-examination by Crockett, Kimball acknowledged Adams told her that day to wait until the following day to retrieve the honey.
“But you didn’t listen to her, did you?” Crockett asked
At times attempting to clarify and elaborate on her answers, Kimball answered yes when Crockett asked whether she asked her husband to help move the honey “knowing he had a gun … and knowing he had consumed alcohol.”
Prosecution witnesses and audio recordings of Merrill Kimball indicate he had consumed at least two rum and Cokes before arriving at Brown’s property
Karen Kimball said she thought about calling the sheriff before she went to the farm, but she instead took her apiary license in case the sheriff became involved.
“Your husband knew you were concerned about not being able to get the honey … that the locks would be changed,” Crockett said.
Kimball said Brown had not restricted her husband from the farm, but for about two weeks in 2012 Brown asked Merrill Kimball not to come to the farm because he was upset with him.
Describing the October 2013 confrontation between her husband and Leon Kelley, Karen Kimball said, “everybody was yelling at once.”
She said her son was yelling at Kelley to leave Merrill Kimball alone and that Kelley’s stepson grabbed her during the confrontation.
Her voice wavered as she described how her back was still turned when she heard gunshots.
Kimball said she turned and saw her husband holding a gun. Kelley was still standing, she said, but he turned around and walked half a dozen steps back toward the shop. He then dropped to the ground, she said.
She said Maine State Police Trooper Michael Edes arrived and yelled at her husband to lie down on the ground, “but my husband was unresponsive,” she said, her voice cracking.
Kimball testified she yelled at least twice at her husband to comply with the officer’s order.
“I thought maybe he’d recognize my voice,” she said.
Merrill Kimball instead moved his vest aside and lifted the flap of his holster, she said. Karen Kimball said she believes her husband was trying to show Edes the gun was holstered, but she was afraid the trooper would misinterpret the movement.
Merrill Kimball then got on his knees, according to his wife’s testimony, which aligned with evidence presented by Edes.
Earlier on Monday, Damon Carroll, Karen Kimball’s son, testified to the “chaotic” encounter at the farm.
“As soon as we got out of the vehicle, they were already there confronting us,” Carroll said. “They were right there standing by the vehicles telling us we needed to go, we were trespassing and we shouldn’t be there.”
Crockett questioned Carroll about apparent inconsistencies in his testimony. He noted that while Carroll told the jury Monday that Kelley pushed Merrill Kimball with “extreme force,” he never used that term with two police detectives and the grand jury.
Justice Roland A. Cole said Monday that closing arguments would take place Tuesday morning, followed by instructions to the jury.