Testimony continues in Cape Girardeau double-murder case

Shannon James was shot several times, but it was the bullet that struck him in the head that killed him, a forensic pathologist testified Wednesday in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

"In my opinion, this bullet [wound] would have been pretty much instantly fatal," said Dr. Russell Deidiker, who conducted autopsies on James, 43, and Misty Cole, 39, who were shot to death Feb. 7, 2013, in their apartment at 401 S. Pacific St.

Kenneth Bell, who lived in the same apartment building as the shooting victims, is on trial this week on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

He is accused of killing Cole and James shortly after getting into a minor verbal altercation with James on a nearby sidewalk.

Gunshots

Cape Girardeau police officers who collected evidence at the scene testified a hole in the floor under James' body lined up with a hole in the stocking cap he was wearing, and a spent bullet was found in the basement below.

That evidence -- along with the locations of the entry and exit wounds, which were just above James' ears -- suggest the shooter was standing over him as he lay on the floor of his apartment, witnesses testified Wednesday.

Deidiker said Cole had been shot from behind six or seven times.

At least five of the wounds could have been fatal, he said.

In her opening statement Tuesday, public defender Cynthia Dryden, one of the lawyers representing Bell in the case, told the jury her client shot James and Cole because he feared for his life after overhearing James talking angrily to another man about a drug deal that had gone wrong earlier in the day.

Dryden said Bell thought James was talking to him when he described what he planned to do to the person who had cheated him.

Drugs

Although toxicology tests did not turn up any evidence of controlled substances in James' body, his blood alcohol content was .21 percent -- more than twice the legal limit, Deidiker testified.

On cross-examination, Dryden asked Deidiker to open a package of items found in James' clothes and show the jury its contents: a pair of bags, one containing a white, rocklike substance packaged in four separate bags and another containing two bags of what Deidiker described as green, "plantlike material."

Deidiker said toxicology tests indicated Cole had methamphetamine and a small amount of Xanax in her blood, along with evidence of Valium, which she could have taken a day or two before her death.

Under cross-examination by Bell's other lawyer, public defender Beth Kerry, evidence technician Cody Farrow of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he found at least three cellphones in James' apartment; the apartment had only two occupants.

Farrow also opened an evidence packet containing items found in Cole's purse, including seven green pills; baggies containing an off-white, crystalline substance; and a small section of a straw.

But Farrow told assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff he found no weapons on or around James, in his apartment or in the hallway outside the apartment when he processed the crime scene.

Also testifying Wednesday was Sgt. Jeff Bonham of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, who said Bell had no apparent injuries when he saw him at the police station after the shootings.

Physical evidence

Bonham testified about physical evidence found in Bell's apartment, including an empty holster that fit a gun officer Kevin Wehrle found on a nearby roof; ammunition and spent shell casings found in Bell's kitchen; and a bone fragment found in Bell's bathroom, which opens directly onto a common hallway in the building.

Bonham said someone could have tracked the bone fragment into the bathroom from the hall, where other fragments were found.

Experts from the Missouri State Highway Patrol's crime lab testified DNA found on the gun matched Bell's, and his hands tested positive for gunpowder residue.

The spent casings recovered from Bell's kitchen also matched the gun, although there was no way to tell from the casings when the gun was fired, said Darian Stinson, a criminalist at the Missouri State Highway Patrol's crime lab.

Testimony in the case will continue today.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 S. Pacific St., Cape Girardeau, MO