GUILTY KS - Karen Kahler, 44, two daughters & grandma murdered, Burlingame, 28 Nov 2009

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'"Kraig Kahler is entitled to put on a defense, Fromme said, and there is evidence that the defendant thinks his divorce and the break-up of his marriage was due to Reece, that the relationship continued in the presence of his children, led to his mental breakdown and contributed to the slayings."

From your link wfgo. He didnt kill Reece, who he believed was threatening his marriage. He killed his wife, his daughters and her grandmother.

Kahler was fired from his job for beating his wife. There were multiple DV calls and she had a Restraining Order.

But it was Reece's fault.
 
Heinous, this case. While KS does have the death penalty, it's never been used since its reintroduction in 1994, death by lethal injection now being the means.

We used to hang them.

Of the single-event mass slayings in the 20th century in Kansas that I can recall, only the event known as the Wichita Massacre produced more victims - five in that case. Kahler is on the hook for four murders, the same number as the victims of the infamous killings in Holcomb, in 1959.

To me, if he's found guilty, hey, bring back hanging, the fate of the two Clutter killers. Death by lethal injection's too good for this guy. And I say that as one primarily opposed to capital punishment.
 
Judge declines request to move Kahler trial

LYNDON, Kan. — A woman called for jury duty during the trial of capital murder defendant Kraig Kahler cried yesterday as she told a judge of her lifelong ties to Dorothy Wight, 89, one of the four slaying victims.

A prosecutor had asked the woman whether she could look at evidence in the case to decide Kahler’s guilt or innocence in the 2009 shooting deaths of Wight; Kahler’s wife, Karen Kahler, 44; and daughters Lauren, 16, and Emily, 18. Wight was Karen Kahler’s grandmother, and the killings occurred inside Wight’s home in Burlingame, where Karen Kahler and her daughters, all of Columbia, were visiting for Thanksgiving.

“I have known George and Dorothy all my life,” the woman said, referring to Wight’s husband. “They were family friends. I worked for them,” as did two other members of her family. “It’s just too intertwined for me to deal with.”

Chief Judge Phillip Fromme released the distraught woman from jury duty.

After the questioning this morning of a third panel of prospective jurors, another 15 were added to the pool. Shortly before noon, the 15 were chosen from a panel that started with 19.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/08/judge-declines-request-move-kahler-trial/
 
Yesterday afternoon, a panel of 21 prospective jurors yielded 18 more qualified jurors. That brought to 52 the number of Osage County residents who are the pool of qualified jurors. All 52 qualified jurors are to report Friday to the Osage County Courthouse, where prosecution and defense attorneys each will use 15 peremptory challenges to choose the jury and alternates.

One prospective juror released yesterday was a woman who said she knew Wight because she had cleaned her home. The woman said she was concerned about being impartial to hear the case. “I feel like he’s already guilty,” she said suddenly.

Also yesterday, the judge announced a ruling to deny a defense motion seeking to dismiss the case. The dismissal motion was tied to two search warrants in which documents linked to the pending divorce of Kraig and Karen Kahler were seized from the defendant’s vehicle and his father’s residence.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/09/attorneys-fill-out-qualified-kahler-jury-pool/
 
n the preliminary hearing, Sean, who was 11 at the time of the shootings, testified via a video hookup to the courtroom while he was in another room in the courthouse. During the trial, he is to testify in the courtroom in front of his father. If the boy appears especially troubled, he will be allowed to testify via the remote hookup.

Two of Wight’s neighbors, who testified in the preliminary hearing that they saw Kraig Kahler’s vehicle in Burlingame on the night of the shootings, are expected to be called as witnesses ahead of Sean Kahler.

In a list given to Kahler defense attorneys Friday, prosecution witnesses totaled 38 people during the first four days of the prosecution’s case.

There are 11 witnesses listed tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and five on Thursday.

Witnesses will begin testifying after prosecutors make an opening statement. Kahler defense attorneys can make an opening statement at that point or do so after the prosecution’s case is over.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/14/kraig-kahlers-son-to-testify-on-first-day-of-trial/



___________________________________


Also scheduled to testify for the prosecution Monday are Karen Kahler’s brother, Bill Hetrick, and Columbia attorney Dan Pingelton, who was representing Karen Kahler in her divorce from Kraig Kahler. The divorce was in progress when she was killed.

Sunny Reese, the woman whose relationship with Karen Kahler the defense is expected to argue caused Kraig Kahler to have a mental breakdown, is scheduled to testify Wednesday. Also on the prosecution’s witness list for Wednesday are Kraig Kahler’s parents, Wayne and Patricia Kahler.

Defense co-counsel Tom Haney said during jury selection that two psychiatrists, one for the prosecution and one for defense, will also testify over the next two weeks.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...imony-monday-includes-kraig-kahlers-son-sean/
 
LYNDON, Kan. — Sean Kahler, the 12-year-old son of James Kraig Kahler, made prolonged eye contact with his father just twice during his half-hour of testimony Monday — once while pointing at his father to identify him, and the other after he was asked by defense co-counsel Tom Haney if he still loved his father.

“Not really,” he replied quietly.

Sean Kahler is the only living witness to the Nov. 28, 2009, shootings that ended the lives of his mother, Karen Kahler, 44; sisters, Emily Kahler, 18, and Lauren Kahler, 16; and great-grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89.

Kraig Kahler, former director of Columbia Water and Light, is charged with four counts of capital murder in the slayings and one count of aggravated burglary in connection with the break-in at Wight’s Burlingame home. His wife and daughters were Columbia residents.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...her-first-day-witness-testimony-kahler-trial/

_______________________________


LYNDON, Kan. — An audio recording of a wounded Lauren Kahler pleading to live and a photo of Emily Kahler’s body stretched across her great-grandmother’s living room drew no physical reaction from their father, murder suspect Kraig Kahler, when presented Monday in Osage County District Court.

urors at Kahler’s capital murder trial were provided a detailed description Monday of the carnage the former Columbia Water and Light Department director is charged with creating. His 12-year-old son, Sean, described his father’s quick burst into the Burlingame, Kan., home and seeing him fire a shot into his mother’s leg. The boy, 10 years old at the time, testified that he dashed out of the home and heard additional shots while fleeing for help.

After the boy’s account, former Osage County Deputy Nathan Purling described to the jury the scene he discovered upon entering the home where the shootings occurred Nov. 28, 2009. He found 18-year-old Emily Kahler already dead after being shot in the chest, as well as the nearly lifeless Karen Kahler, 44, Lauren Kahler, 16, and Dorothy Wight, 89.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/15/kahler-wasnt-sane-defense-lawyer-argues/
 
What a Trying to blame this on everyone but himself. He needs to give it up. I feel for the son, his life will never be the same.
 
How elegant. I am not sure I would have reduced this event to that particular soundbite, but I expect it will sell papers.
 
LYNDON, Kan. — Paper bag after paper bag of items recovered from Dorothy Wight’s home, James Kraig Kahler’s red Ford Explorer and the defendant himself in the days after the Burlingame slayings were admitted into evidence Tuesday afternoon as witness testimony continued in Kahler’s capital murder trial.

Tuesday morning's testimony had focused mainly on the "chaos" surrounding the Nov. 28, 2009, shootings, as one witness described it, and the events leading up to them. Karen Kahler's Columbia divorce attorney, Dan Pingelton, told the court that Karen and Kraig Kahler had a very different relationship with Sunny Reese than the one defense attorney Tom Haney had sketched out in his opening statement to the jury — that of a serial home wrecker who broke up the Kahler marriage.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...around-evidence-collection-tuesday-afternoon/

__________________________________________

LYNDON, Kan. — During Kraig Kahler's murder trial on Wednesday, Sunny Reese told the Osage County District Court that she loved Karen Kahler "too much” and that she wanted her to be safe — "with or without me.”

During her hour and 45 minutes on the witness stand, Reese testified about the details of her relationship with Karen Kahler. She said they met in January 2006 at Powerhouse Gym in Weatherford, Texas, where the two were instructors before the Kahlers moved to Columbia. That contradicted testimony from Karen Kahler’s divorce attorney, Dan Pingelton, who testified Tuesday that Karen Kahler told him her husband had “introduced Sunny sexually” to the couple.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...ifies-relationship-kahlers-wife-never-secret/

______________________________________________

Tuesday, Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Ryan Boyer began displaying items he collected from Kahler’s SUV and Wight’s home. His testimony continued Wednesday morning as he held up more than 40 exhibits for the jury.

As he’d laid out in his opening statement, defense attorney Tom Haney showed under cross-examination of Boyer that Kahler had not taken any of the 30 clonazepam pills he was prescribed on March 26, 2009. The pills, prescribed to alleviate symptoms of seizures and panic attacks, were found in a labeled prescription bottle inside a camouflage backpack retrieved from the back of Kahler’s Explorer.

Haney had Boyer pour the pills out onto the witness stand and count them. Then he asked Boyer why they were not investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and pointed out that the pills and bottle were also not originally marked as one of the prosecution’s exhibits, unlike other contents of the backpack.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...ws-kahler-did-not-take-prescribed-medication/
 
http://cjonline.com/news/2011-08-17/witness-she-urged-wife-divorce-kahler

Reese said she told Karen Kahler she should divorce her husband for her own safety.

"I would have loved for her to be with me, but the circumstances weren't right," Reese said. "I loved her, I wanted her to be safe, with or without me."

Reese said she and Karen Kahler met in January 2008 at the Powerhouse Gym where they worked in Weatherford, Texas. Reese met Kraig Kahler about the same time.

Reese denied she had a three-way sexual relationship with the Kahlers.

Osage County Attorney Brandon Jones asked whether someone had suggested such a relationship.

"Yes, sir," Reese said.

Who? he asked.

"Kraig Kahler, through a text message to myself," Reese said.

But on questioning by defense attorney Tom Haney, Reese said she didn't have a copy of the text message to prove it.
More at link.
 
A Life Alert smoke detector was activated around 6:07 p.m. Nov. 28, 2009, at Wight’s home in Burlingame, Kan., said John Brady, a former Life Alert vice president. He said it was possible gunfire triggered the smoke detector.

“Somebody is trying to kill us,” Lauren Kahler screamed on the alert system’s recording in a desperate and disturbing call for help. “He’s in the house.”

Weatherford, Texas, resident Sunny Reese testified Wednesday afternoon for the prosecution, identifying the voice on the recording as Lauren Kahler’s. Defense attorney Tom Haney during opening statements Monday accused Reese of tearing apart the Kahler family and driving his client to a “tipping point.”

Columbia attorney Dan Pingelton, who represented Karen Kahler during the couple’s divorce proceedings, testified Tuesday that Kraig Kahler had suggested that he, his wife and Reese all participate in a sexual threesome and that Karen Kahler and Reese were in love.

Reese was visibly disturbed when the recording was played to the jury. She and Karen Kahler were together on the morning of her murder.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/17/friend-details-kahlers-knowledge-affair/


_________________________________

Yesterday afternoon, testimony in Kahler’s murder trial focused on the aftermath of the killings, Kahler’s capture and evidence collection.

Testimony from several Osage and Shawnee county deputies, as well as investigators with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, occupied the attention of the 15 Osage County jurors yesterday afternoon.

Defense attorney Tom Haney does not dispute that his client committed the Nov. 28, 2009, crime in Burlingame, Kan. Instead, Haney said his case will show his client was not sane at the time of the killings and will accuse a Texas woman, Sunny Reese, of wrecking the Kahler family home and driving him to his “tipping point.”

Columbia attorney Dan Pingelton represented Karen Kahler during her divorce from the defendant. He said yesterday that his client and Reese were in love. Reese was scheduled to testify today.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/17/deputies-detail-capture-of-kraig-kahler/
 
LYNDON, Kan. — In his interview with a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent the morning of his arrest, James Kraig Kahler said it “messed up (his) mind” to see the unraveling of his “perfect family” and “great marriage.”

“I’m so sorry I’m here. I just can’t believe I’m here,” he told Bill Halverson in a videotaped interview played for the jury in Osage County District Court on Thursday. “I can’t believe how fast you can lose everything.”

But Kahler showed no curiosity about the charges against him, or about the shootings, when Halverson told him about them.

“It was greatly surprising to me that he would never ask why he was in custody, how anybody was doing or anything,” Halverson said.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...ays-he-messed-interview-shortly-after-arrest/
 
In my mind, he can very well have been disturbed about the break up of his family, but there was no reason to kill the grandmother and the daughters. If he was upset with his wife, why shoot the daughters? And, he let the son go. That says a lot to me.
Also, in the above article, his father makes reference to Karen and the girl trashing the home when they moved out. What about the son? Wasn't he there too? This is a misogynistic family, imo.
So many devastating problems in families come from some feeling they are more important than others.
 
Former Kansas Bureau of Investigation Special Agent William Halversen said Thursday that Kahler assured him the gun law enforcement officers were searching for in the killings wouldn’t easily be found.

Law enforcement officials never did find the .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle they allege Kahler used during his rampage.

Halversen, who interviewed Kahler after his arrest, said that during questioning he told Kahler he was concerned the firearm might accidentally be found by a child.

Kahler said no kids would find the gun, Halversen said in a videotaped deposition shown Thursday morning to Osage County jurors. Prosecutors have introduced into evidence three loaded clips of .223-caliber ammunition found on or near Kahler when he was arrested.

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-08-18/kahler-made-blaze-glory-remark

Why not tell them were the gun is if you are not disputing that you shot them?
 
During the deposition, a brief reference was made to Kraig Kahler's "girlfriend," who told the KBI agent that the sale of a Ford Mustang to one of Kahler’s daughters was a "trigger" for the defendant. There was no elaboration on the girlfriend reference.

This is from the above link. First time I have heard of a girlfriend.
 
Are you kidding me ohiogirl? (Rhetorical question.) This man have had a g/f? Well I suspect his defense is headed into the hopper then...
 
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