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 | 'It was so out of character' Christine and Kim Williams, who went to church with John Kenney, recall the man that they knew as a smart gentleman. Dateline NBC |
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 | Jurors describe Kenney's behavior in court Jurors from the murder trial of John Kenney recount his attitude, and speculate on what may have led him to kill his neighbors. Dateline NBC |
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 | Prosecutor: Kenney 'a prideful man' Prosecutor Berkley Brannon describes John Kenney, and what aspects of his personality led to the aggression he exhibited toward the Grimes. Dateline NBC |
The jury in the trial of John Kenney, accused of murdering his next door neighbors, had a disturbing duty. To consider evidence, yes, but as part of that job, to listen to an audio tape of two people dying. Over and over, they heard it, the sounds teased into something like clarity, enhanced to allow the jury to comprehend what happened here. The jury foreman told us what he thought.
Michael Jones: Mrs. Grimes is on the phone with the phone to her ear, and-- saying, "Mel, the sheriff's coming." And we can hear Mr. Grimes say, "Good." Two seconds later she's attacked. Or-- or there's-- there's an altercation. It seems incredulous that she's gonna say, "The sheriff's coming," know she's got 911 on the phone, and then all of a sudden she's gonna launch into an attack of him. I think he-- he attacked her. Knocked the phone out of her hand. Mr. Grimes died trying to defend his wife.
For the jurors, the case boiled down to two things: the 911 tape, and ...
Michael Jones: He shot a woman in the back. He shot a defenseless woman in the back. He hides this gun under his belt, he goes down there, and he knows the reaction he's gonna get from-- he's too smart not to know this. And then, of course, he shoots Mrs. Grimes in the back. That was about as irrefutable as it gets. You didn't have to shoot that woman.
And so they were unanimous.
Court Clerk Sally Lopez: We the jury find the defendant John Franklin Kenney guilty ...
Kenney was convicted of second degree murder for killing Mel Grimes and first degree murder for killing Elizabeth, because the jury decided he shot her when she was down.
At his sentencing, John Kenney said he had not broken God's Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." Many of his friends stood by him.
Kim Williams: We don't know what actually happened up there. We know what Jack says happened. And we have no reason to disbelieve him.
Christine Williams: There's another side to Jack than just what was shown in court and what was shown in the newspapers. That he's a real person; he's a-- a brilliant person. He's a good friend and good father and husband.
Prosecutor Berkley Brannon says he doesn't doubt the statements made by Kenney's friends and family.
Berkley Brannon: He's led-- a fruitful life. And-- he threw it away.
So he did. But still, said the prosecutor, the man doesn't seem to get it.
Berkley Brannon: I think he honestly does not feel remorse. And I think that this perspective comes from a certitude that whatever he did, it was right and fine and justified.
John Kenney was sentenced to life - no chance ever of parole. An imprisoned, sole living survivor of a petty feud that turned into an unnecessary war.
Tom Ellington-Wills: To know that the rest of your life you'll spend in a cell and you won't be able to experience the beauty of life anymore? That's-- that's what I hope for. (voice breaking) I just want him to, you know, regret-- the rest of his life. Living the rest of his life in prison, to me, is-- is justice--
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Kenney's daughter and wife were in court to hear the verdict. And then they went back to their town in France. And all they had to take with them was their memory.
Segolene Kenney: I can understand the emotional distress and the-- the pain of the Grimes's family. But we are also very much suffering.
Keith Morrison: If you have a message for him now, what would that be?
Segolene Kenney: I'm okay.
Keith Morrison: And it takes some doing to be okay, doesn't it?
Around Carmel Valley, more than a few once testy neighbors have been a little friendlier lately.
Kim Williams: I can't tell you how many people have commented that they've mended fences.
And up at the top of that winding, leafy road, up among the oak and the sycamore, the earthly possessions of those two doomed lives are scattered, abandoned, among the whimsical keepsakes of a house no one lives in. And across the road, outside that other stark and empty place, buckets of firewood the old engineer had so carefully sorted according to size, are still lined up just so.
And the neighborhood is quiet, like a tomb.
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