jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601
DURHAM -- Just before potential jurors in his first-degree murder trial on Wednesday were brought into the courtroom, Keith Wade Kidwell asked Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson if the judge's denials of motions by defense lawyer Lisa Williams would keep her from being as effective as possible on his behalf.
Williams on Tuesday sought a delay in Kidwell's trial, contending District Attorney Tracey Cline is withholding information about her client. Hudson rejected that, as well as the specter Williams raised about whether Kidwell is getting a speedy trial.
So Kidwell spoke up. Hudson heard what he had to say but told the defendant his case isn't jeopardized.
"Your lawyer has been very effective," said Hudson, who pointed out Williams -- with input from Cline -- succeeded in getting the death penalty tossed out as a possible punishment for Kidwell.
"But does it stop there?" the defendant asked.
If a jury finds Kidwell guilty of the February 2005 killing of convenience-store worker Crayton Nelms at the Kangaroo store on North Roxboro Street, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Pertaining to the missing information about which Williams is concerned, Cline said the file on Kidwell that she has turned over to the defendant's lawyer is all she has on the case. Hudson gave Williams the benefit of the doubt about the missing information, but he explained to Kidwell that material germane to his case has been presented.
"I don't think the discovery she said is missing is going to matter," Hudson told Kidwell. Otherwise, the judge said, he would have made sure there was an accounting for the missing information.
