Griffith retrial to begin Feb. 1
By Kat Russell, Reporter
The Paducah Sun
May 2, 2015
A new trial date was set Friday in McCracken Circuit Court for the murder case against Keith Griffith, who is accused of shooting his wife and burning down their Reidland home with her and their two dogs inside.
Starting Feb. 1, 2016, Griffith will stand trial for the second time on charges of murder, first-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence and two counts of animal cruelty.
Judge Tim Kaltenbach noted the actual trial proceedings would begin Feb. 2, with jury orientation handled on Feb. 1.
Griffith’s first trial three months ago ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a consensus. The jury voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
On Friday, Kaltenbach said he expected the new trial would take about a month to complete.
The judge also said he anticipated a large jury panel to be pooled for the new trial.
“We’ll have to call in more jurors (than last time),” Kaltenbach said.
For the last trial, Circuit Clerk Kim Chanel said she pooled 2 1/2 panels of jurists for the case, since it had been highly publicized by the media. On average, a panel of 700 people is pooled for a circuit jury trial, Chanel said. For the Griffith case, approximately 1,400 people were summoned and around 500 reported for service.
After setting the trial date, Kaltenbach set a Dec. 10 deadline for motions to be filed and a Dec. 21 hearing to address any motions filed.
Kaltenbach also addressed the motions filed April 11 — one by County Attorney Sam Clymer in regard to the demolition of the Griffiths’ Tudor Boulevard home and the other a motion to modify Griffith’s bail, which the judge previously denied.
Kaltenbach advised Griffith’s new co-counsel Michael Bufkin, a Louisville public defender with the Capital Trial Branch, to review the motions, which are scheduled to be revisited at 1 p.m. on July 16.
A pretrial conference was also scheduled for Aug. 17.
Contact Kat Russell, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8653.
Starting Feb. 1, 2016, Griffith will stand trial for the second time on charges of murder, first-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence and two counts of animal cruelty.
Judge Tim Kaltenbach noted the actual trial proceedings would begin Feb. 2, with jury orientation handled on Feb. 1.
Griffith’s first trial three months ago ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a consensus. The jury voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
On Friday, Kaltenbach said he expected the new trial would take about a month to complete.
The judge also said he anticipated a large jury panel to be pooled for the new trial.
“We’ll have to call in more jurors (than last time),” Kaltenbach said.
For the last trial, Circuit Clerk Kim Chanel said she pooled 2 1/2 panels of jurists for the case, since it had been highly publicized by the media. On average, a panel of 700 people is pooled for a circuit jury trial, Chanel said. For the Griffith case, approximately 1,400 people were summoned and around 500 reported for service.
After setting the trial date, Kaltenbach set a Dec. 10 deadline for motions to be filed and a Dec. 21 hearing to address any motions filed.
Kaltenbach also addressed the motions filed April 11 — one by County Attorney Sam Clymer in regard to the demolition of the Griffiths’ Tudor Boulevard home and the other a motion to modify Griffith’s bail, which the judge previously denied.
Kaltenbach advised Griffith’s new co-counsel Michael Bufkin, a Louisville public defender with the Capital Trial Branch, to review the motions, which are scheduled to be revisited at 1 p.m. on July 16.
A pretrial conference was also scheduled for Aug. 17.
Contact Kat Russell, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8653.