Posted on 01/08/2014 6:36:05 AM PST by Drew68
On January 7, the capital murder trial began for a man charged with killing his neighbors after a prolonged dog-poop dispute. Issues of race, language, economics and age complicate the already unusual case.
Chung Kim, 76, allegedly shot and killed Michelle Jackson and Jaime Stafford on February 4, 2013, at Sable Ridge Condominiums in North Dallas. Jackson and Stafford, who were African-Americans in their 30s, lived in the unit above Kim and his wife. Kim, a South Korean immigrant, is using an interpreter for the trial and has previously stated he acted in self-defense.
It is well-documented that Jackson and Stafford frequently washed dog feces from their balcony onto Kim’s. The condo’s homeowners association received reports of dog-poop dumping dating back to August 2012.
Kim provided photos of his balcony’s poop-streaked windows, floors and walls to a variety of entities. Animal control eventually took the couple’s dog away, but the poop problems didn’t end. In December 2012, after Jackson gave birth to her fifth child, the couple began tossing dirty diapers over their balcony and onto the unit below them.
Kim and his wife owned their first floor condo and had lived there for more than a decade. Jackson was renting her unit through Section 8 housing on a month-to-month lease. In addition to voicing his complaints with the condo association, Kim reported the excrement issues to the Dallas Police Department, the City of Dallas Health and Human Services Department.
Condo maintenance supervisor Keith Morris said he was aware of the ongoing dispute between Kim and his neighbors. Morris said he had personally cleaned Kim’s balcony on at least two occasions, and once used a power washer to remove the poop.
Morris testified that he was picking up trash in the parking lot on February 4, 2013, when he heard Kim yelling, followed by two gunshots. Then, he saw Jackson’s body lying on the floor of her second-story balcony.
Assistant district attorney Herschel Woods asked Morris who fired the gun.
“I was in shock,” Morris said. “It was Mr. Kim.”
Morris testified that he took cover behind the building because he feared for his life. When he emerged, Morris said he saw Kim step over Jackson’s lifeless body on the balcony and enter her unit while firing his weapon.
Jackson’s boyfriend, Jaime Stafford, was shot and killed as he tried to flee his residence.
At the time of the murders, a grainy security video from the condo’s parking lot and pool area shows a shadowy figure appearing to move from Kim’s ground-floor unit to the one directly above him occupied by Jackson and Stafford. Jurors craned their necks and squinted to make out the video, which also shows a figure enter Kim’s black Lexus SUV minutes after the murders and drive away from the complex.
Forensic scientist David Walker Spence testified that Kim had significant gun-shot particles on his hands when tested the day of the murders.
“There’s no way of me knowing, based on this testing, if one individual fired a gun or was just in proximity to the gun,” Spence said.
Police recovered a black Glock 45 handgun from Kim’s SUV the day of the murder. It was loaded and placed underneath the driver’s seat. 45-caliber shells and casings were found at the scene of the crime.
Carlata Robinson, the condo’s HOA president, testified about the extent of the animal and baby feces on Kim’s property. She said the amount, location and frequency of the feces made it a health issue.
On January 31, 2013, more poop appeared on Kim’s balcony. This time, instead of being washed down from the balcony, it appeared to be piled up deliberately on Kim’s property.
“This issue has been ongoing for months,” Robinson wrote in an email the same day to the HOA board about Jackson and Stafford’s behavior. “Mr. Kim is about to reach his breaking point.”
Robinson had helped coordinate the couple’s eviction process, which was to begin February 1. Robinson testified that she never told Kim about the pending eviction. Three days later, Jackson and Stafford were dead.
“This is terrible tenant behavior,” Woods said. “It’s not the way neighbors are supposed to act … but is taking a Glock 45 and shooting people in the head a reasonable way to resolve a dispute?” he asked.
“No,” Robinson said.
Testimony continues January 8 in the 291st Criminal Court in Dallas.
Guilty of murder. Regardless of the couple being wholly obnoxious (at the least), no one can be allowed to personally carry out the death penalty as a result.
The landlord didn’t recoup months of unpaid rent and also had to spend big bucks getting the unit ready for the next tenants. The welfare couple had left the apartment a mess. After that, the landlord no longer accepted welfare tenants and eventually sold the building.”””
I am a life long bookkeeper. I have had clients who
were landlords. I also have been a landlord with a property my Dad left me.
I always advised each & every one of them to NEVER rent to Section 8. I also refused to do so.
What is described in this man’s post is exactly why.
The eviction process was to begin the next day. If the landlord had told Kim .....””
Depending on the location & local & state laws—the BEGINNING of eviction is just that! A BEGINNING.
It can take a very long time to get to the END.
“no one can be allowed to personally carry out the death penalty as a result.”
Except cops, Obama drones
Notice how the sperm donor boyfriend tried to run for his life instead of trying to fight back and protect his sugarmama.
This wouldn’t have been my solution to the situation but I’m going with Not Guilty.
He's guilty of murder, no doubt about that. And he deserves some stern probation.
I think the lesson here is that if you drive someone crazy, don't be surprised when they do crazy things.
holy cow!!!!
There you have it.
No because they were both probably stoned or perpetually high from a lifetime of being high on pot, alcohol, what have you
Yep, he should walk they pushed him to it. 2 nut cases gone from the world
Situations do not determine ethics.
You may not kill everyone who mistreats you.
You do not decide who 'needs' killing.
For a private citizen, killing is pretty much limited to self-defense.
Might I kill someone who harmed my family as an act of retribution? Possibly. But I would do so in the knowledge that I would suffer the penalty of law for my actions.
The analogy which I provided involved a divorce, possibly the least appealing human interaction legally available. Even in an ugly, drawn out divorce, filled with wrong doing and recrimination, painful and unfair, and subject to the divers humiliations inflicted by the justice system - even in this most odious case, going through the legal process is preferable to homicide.
For the record, I have lived long enough to have gone through distasteful situations - worse than having poop on my porch. And I have not killed anyone.
Now that I think about it, you are right.
Another reason not to take Section 8 tenants.
Eventually we won't have a choice in the matter. The government is just going to buy foreclosed homes in the 'burbs and populate them with Section 8 layabouts and their feral offspring. Instead of poop washing down onto your balcony, it'll be tossed into your back yard.
Not guilty....he just snapped and I can’t blame him. They were trying to infect or kill him with fecal matter. That’s assault.
Not to mention the noise of 5 kids tromping around over your head every day. I can see why he lost his mind. I hope this trial is on a live stream. Good luck, Mr. Kim.
I don't know how much publicity this trial is getting in Dallas but it doesn't seem to be getting any publicity anywhere else. I guess the media is afraid that too many people would sympathize with Mr. Kim.
“It can take a very long time to get to the END”
Probably less time than he will spend in jail.
Let that be a reminder to y'all - revenge is a dish best served cold (or at least from a place of cover and concealment, 200 yards or so away).
Wow. That was a quick trial. Two days.
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