jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601
DURHAM -- The Keith Kidwell murder trial, riddled with stops and starts since the jury was seated on Sept. 24, encountered another delay on Thursday when defense lawyer Lisa Williams alerted the court by e-mail that the case has made her ill.
"The amount of stress I have had to process in the last four weeks has exacted a very high price and it has begun to effect my physical well being," Williams wrote to Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson.
Williams said she's lost 12 pounds since the trial started and that she awoke Thursday to find her eye swollen shut.
So Hudson sent home the jury much earlier than expected. There won't be any Kidwell proceedings today, either, or next week for that matter.
The case will be on hiatus next week while Hudson is away at a conference for judges at the UNC School of Government in Chapel Hill.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Oct. 27 in the matter that could result in Kidwell, 25, spending the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty of the February 2005 killing of Crayton Nelms. A Maola milkman during a routine delivery at a Kangaroo store at 4604 N. Roxboro St. discovered Nelms' bloodied body. The victim, who was 44, worked the overnight shift at the store.
Kidwell had a concerned look on his face when he entered the courtroom Thursday and didn't see his lawyer sitting in her usual spot. Hudson had to fill him in on the details.
But the jury wasn't let in on why they were going home so soon -- not that anyone seemed to mind.
"Members of the jury, a situation has arisen that will not allow us to proceed with this trial on this date," said Hudson, informing the jurors there was no need for alarm. "We'll see you bright and early Oct. 27. Be ready to work."
