“Did you shoot your wife that day?” Kansas City attorney Kent Gipson asked his client, who had taken the stand Monday in Dekalb County, Missouri.
“Absolutely not,” said Ken Middleton, who was wearing a bright orange prison jumpsuit in court.
Middleton was convicted in the February 1990 shooting death of his wife Kathy Middleton in Blue Springs and sentenced to life without parole.
Now 80, he testified before DeKalb County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman during a hearing seeking a new trial or his release. Ken Middleton called Kathy Middleton the love of his life and said he was in shock when she died.
About 20 years ago, a judge ruled Ken Middleton had received ineffective representation and ordered a new trial. He turned down a plea deal before the judge’s decision was overturned by a higher court.
Court documents argue that Kathy Middleton accidentally shot herself. They also allege that prosecutors froze Ken Middleton’s accounts, preventing him from hiring the counsel of his choice.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office disputes Middleton’s claims.
Much of the hearing focused on Middleton’s financial status. He grew up “dirt poor” in Arkansas, he said, and moved to Kansas City after graduating high school at age 16. He swore he would never be that poor again.
He worked various jobs before becoming a truck driver and purchasing land in Arkansas where he raised about 150 heads of cattle.
He had a son, Cliff Middleton, in 1969.
Five years later, he married Kathy Middleton. He continued driving trucks until he was injured on the job in 1984, but was still able to raise cattle.
At the time Kathy Middleton was shot, Ken Middleton estimated his net worth at about $500,000 to $600,000. After he was arrested, he looked into selling a home or cattle, but was not able to do so without the permission of the court and the prosecutor because the assets were held jointly by him and his wife.
He wanted the funds to be able to hire a new attorney. He said his attorney Bob Duncan failed to hire experts and did “very little” to build a defense at trial.
Duncan was later disbarred. He had also represented Sandra Hemme , who spent more than 40 in prison for a murder she did not commit and was released in July.
Middleton was not able to access money to hire a different attorney. He was convicted in 1991.
He appealed on an ineffective counsel claim and his conviction was vacated in 2005. He said Monday that once he had access to money to get a good lawyer, he was able to prove his case.
Prosecutors offered him an Alford plea, or no contest. He rejected it and then a higher court overturned the ruling for a new trial. On Monday, Middleton said he turned down the plea deal because he was “totally innocent” and that “it’s cost me 20 years (in prison).”
Gipson put on evidence showing that Middleton’s gunshot residue report was negative, but Duncan failed to present it to the jury. Middleton testified that he was in the living room when he had a seizure. When he came to, he found his wife shot in the dining room.
“Mr. Middleton would welcome a new trial,” Gipson told Judge Horsman.
The attorney general’s office questioned how Middleton was allowed to be a truck driver with a seizure disorder and said he had told police different stories about the shooting, including that he had been cleaning the gun or handing the gun to Kathy Middleton when it went off. They also said he did not try to use funds that were his alone to hire a defense attorney and that many of the claims had already been presented and rejected by higher courts including the Missouri Supreme Court.
Horsman is expected to make a decision in the coming months.
Cliff Middleton, who testified earlier Monday, said that “the justice system has failed my father for far too long” and that he is hoping for a favorable ruling.
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