GUILTY TX - Tommy McGraw, Beth Wilburn & James Oatis, slain, League City, Nov 1983 *Arrest*

[Niner]

@Seattle1 - I was wondering if I could bother you on this case. It is Galveston County - #s 16-CR-0204, -0205 & -0206 For Jesse Dean Kersh.

His trial is supposed to start on Monday, 9/19 - and just want to make sure it still is.

TIA!

 

[Seattle1]

@Seattle1 - I was wondering if I could bother you on this case. It is Galveston County - #s 16-CR-0204, -0205 & -0206 For Jesse Dean Kersh.

His trial is supposed to start on Monday, 9/19 - and just want to make sure it still is.

TIA!

Appears that it was reset by the court to 9/26:

https://publicaccess.co.galveston.tx.us//CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=1258317

09/26/2022			Jury Trial (9:00 AM) (Judicial Officer Ellisor, John) PREF SET #1 (2ND WEEK 9/26/22) 07/27/2021 Reset by Court to 10/26/2021 10/26/2021 Reset by Court to 04/11/2022 04/11/2022 Reset by Court to 06/17/2022 05/31/2022 Reset by Court to 06/06/2022 06/06/2022 Reset by Court to 09/19/2022 06/17/2022 Reset by Court to 06/27/2022 06/27/2022 Reset by Court to 05/31/2022 09/19/2022 Reset by Court to 09/26/2022

 

[Niner]

Thank you for checking @Seattle1 !

 

[Niner]

Monday, Sept. 26th:
*Trial set to begin (@ 9am CT) - TX - Thomas Earl McGraw, Jr. (28), Beth Yvette Wilburn (25) & James Craig Oatis (22) all slain in the Corvette Concepts garage, League City, Nov. 2, 1983. *Jesse Dean Kersh (25 @ time of crime/58/now 65) arrested & charged (1/26/16) & indicted (4/21/16) with 3 counts of 1st degree felony murder. Bond $150K.
Trial was set to begin on 9/19/22 rescheduled on 9/26/22.
Case & court info from 2/14/16 to 10/7/21 reference post #16 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...atis-slain-league-city-nov-1983-arrest.32808/
5/9/22: Notice of State's intent to introduce extraneous offenses. Pretrial conference hearing reset set from 7/16/21 on 9/9/22. Jury trial reset from 7/27/21 set to begin on 9/19/22. 9/9/22 Update: Next trial on 9/19/22. 9/17/22 Update: Trial has been reset to 9/26/22.

 

[Niner]

Not finding any current articles on the trial. @Seattle1 - is it still on going? This is Galveston County - still can not access it. I shall go ahead & post this.


Tuesday, Sept. 27th:
*Trial continues (Day 2) (@ 9am CT) - TX - Thomas Earl McGraw, Jr. (28), Beth Yvette Wilburn (25) & James Craig Oatis (22) all slain in the Corvette Concepts garage, League City, Nov. 2, 1983. *Jesse Dean Kersh (25 @ time of crime/58/now 65) arrested & charged (1/26/16) & indicted (4/21/16) with 3 counts of 1st degree felony murder. Bond $150K.
Trial began on 9/26/22.
Case & court info from 2/14/16 to 10/7/21 reference post #24 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...lain-league-city-nov-1983-arrest.32808/page-2
9/26/22 Monday, Trial Day 1: Jury Selection begins ?? Trial continues on 9/27/22.

 

[Seattle1]

Not finding any current articles on the trial. @Seattle1 - is it still on going? This is Galveston County - still can not access it. I shall go ahead & post this.

This is so bizzare!

Searching by all three case numbers 16-CR-0204, 205, and 206, I get no hits at all.

Searching by the defendant's name Jesse Dean Kersh, I get only one hit for 2001
Case No. MD-0203292 which was dismissed on 5/31/01 for insufficient evidence.

Sorry @Niner that I'm not familiar with the defendant or MSN here because I've never followed the case or defendant but I don't understand why the trial is not on the calendar for Sept - Dec.

The last MSM I found is dated 2016:

Arrest made in 1983 League City triple homicide

There's a big break in an unsolved League City triple homicide that happened more than three decades ago. On Tuesday morning, police made an arrest.

abc13.com

Jesse Dean Kersh Affidavit

Click here to view this item from The Daily News.

www.galvnews.com

 

[Niner]

This is so bizzare!

Searching by all three case numbers 16-CR-0204, 205, and 206, I get no hits at all.

Searching by the defendant's name Jesse Dean Kersh, I get only one hit for 2001
Case No. MD-0203292 which was dismissed on 5/31/01 for insufficient evidence.

Sorry @Niner that I'm not familiar with the defendant or MSN here because I've never followed the case or defendant but I don't understand why the trial is not on the calendar for Sept - Dec.

The last MSM I found is dated 2016:

Arrest made in 1983 League City triple homicide

There's a big break in an unsolved League City triple homicide that happened more than three decades ago. On Tuesday morning, police made an arrest.

abc13.com

Jesse Dean Kersh Affidavit

Click here to view this item from The Daily News.

www.galvnews.com

Yes it is quite bizarre that you can not find him in the court site - since you did on post #22 above. Well I guess I will stop the trials for him.

I will check back in about a week or so - and see if you can find anything then.

And thank you for taking the time to look this up.

 

[Niner]

@Seattle1 - was wondering if you can find anything now on this case?

TIA!

 

[Seattle1]

@Seattle1 - was wondering if you can find anything now on this case?

TIA!

No idea why this case was purged from the system. Searched both
Tyler Odyssey Portal and Galveston County Records search to no avail. It's a mystery.

Tyler Odyssey Portal

portal.galvestoncountytx.gov

 

[Niner]

No idea why this case was purged from the system. Searched both
Tyler Odyssey Portal and Galveston County Records search to no avail. It's a mystery.

Tyler Odyssey Portal

portal.galvestoncountytx.gov

Maybe Kersh plead guilty, but I would think there would be "something" in the court site.
Oh well - I shall put this case on my shelf...

And thanks (again) for taking the time to look this up!

 

[Seattle1]

Maybe Kersh plead guilty, but I would think there would be "something" in the court site.
Oh well - I shall put this case on my shelf...

And thanks (again) for taking the time to look this up!

WHAT???!!!

Just found this today 10/10/22 in The Daily News, Galveston County, and now I'm really confused. I can't access more than the following

Trial set to begin in infamous Corvette Concepts triple homicide​

• 7 hrs ago
• 0

Jury selection will begin Monday in the trial of Jesse Kersh, 64, of Spring, the man accused of the Corvette Concepts triple homicide in the former 1983 cold case. Read more

galvnews.com | Texas' Oldest Newspaper

www.galvnews.com

 

[Seattle1]

@worm -- I'm really perplexed here. After finding the following details in Galveston County Courts, I get no results now. Can you see if you have similar results? Much appreciated.

Appears that it was reset by the court to 9/26:

https://publicaccess.co.galveston.tx.us//CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=1258317

09/26/2022			Jury Trial (9:00 AM) (Judicial Officer Ellisor, John) PREF SET #1 (2ND WEEK 9/26/22) 07/27/2021 Reset by Court to 10/26/2021 10/26/2021 Reset by Court to 04/11/2022 04/11/2022 Reset by Court to 06/17/2022 05/31/2022 Reset by Court to 06/06/2022 06/06/2022 Reset by Court to 09/19/2022 06/17/2022 Reset by Court to 06/27/2022 06/27/2022 Reset by Court to 05/31/2022 09/19/2022 Reset by Court to 09/26/2022

Searching by all three case numbers 16-CR-0204, 205, and 206, I get no hits at all.

Searching by the defendant's name Jesse Dean Kersh, I get only one hit for 2001
Case No. MD-0203292 which was dismissed on 5/31/01 for insufficient evidence.

 

[worm]

@worm -- I'm really perplexed here. After finding the following details in Galveston County Courts, I get no results now. Can you see if you have similar results? Much appreciated.

I got “no matches found” but if there has been a dismissal then it would be in the news being so high profile.

 

[Seattle1]

I got “no matches found” but if there has been a dismissal then it would be in the news being so high profile.

Thank you for confirming! I recently could not locate the video link of an appellate hearing posted on a court site only to learn it was my block_er that prevented me from seeing the link (all others could see it).

Yes, I agree if the case was disposed of or settled, that would be published. Thanks again.

 

[Niner]

Tuesday, October 11th:
*Trial continues (@ 9am CT) - TX - Thomas Earl McGraw, Jr. (28), Beth Yvette Wilburn (25) & James Craig Oatis (22) all slain in the Corvette Concepts garage, League City, Nov. 2, 1983. *Jesse Dean Kersh (25 @ time of crime/58/now 65) arrested & charged (1/26/16) & indicted (4/21/16) with 3 counts of 1st degree felony murder. Bond $150K.
Trial was set to begin on 9/26/22 continued to 10/10/22 with jury selection.
Case & court info from 2/14/16 to 10/7/21 reference post #24 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...lain-league-city-nov-1983-arrest.32808/page-2
9/26/22 Update: Court site no longer has case #s or defendant there. Trial begins on 10/10/22 with jury selection. The trial is being held in Judge John Ellisor’s 122nd District Court with Kevin Petroff & Kayla Allen prosecuting. Kevin Rekoff will defend Kersh. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks, Assistant District Attorney Casey Kirst said.
10/10/22 Monday, Jury Selection Day 1: No info available. Trial continues on 10/11/22.

 

[Seattle1]

Trial set to begin in infamous Corvette Concepts triple homicide

Jury selection will begin Monday in the trial of Jesse Kersh, 64, of Spring, the man accused of the Corvette Concepts triple homicide in the former 1983 cold case.

www.galvnews.com

10/10/22

The trial of a man accused of killing three people in the infamous 1983 Corvette Concept homicides, which had been among the coldest cold cases in county history, is set to begin today.
Jesse Kersh, 64, of Spring, who’s charged with murder in a triple homicide in League City that eluded investigators for more than 30 years, will face a jury in the 122nd District Court.

He was arrested in January 2016 after testimony from a witness, ballistics and DNA linked him to the crime, police said.

[..]

The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wilburn had been stabbed 114 times in the torso and shot in the head.

McGraw, a shop employee, had been shot seven times and stabbed 15 times.

Oatis, an electrician from Houston, was shot eight times in the head.
Kersh was an employee of the shop at the time of the murders.

[..]

The case stayed cold until October 2006, when investigators received a tip from Darryl Krogman. Krogman told FBI agents he had been present when Kersh bought a .22-caliber pistol at a gun show, according to the affidavit.

Krogman also reportedly told investigators that, at Kersh’s request, he had made a “silencer” for a .22-caliber handgun shortly after that purchase and about six months before the murders.

In Texas, the murder of two or more persons during the same criminal episode is capital murder, punishable by death, or life in prison without parole.

[..]

That definition of capital murder did not exist in 1983, and the law that applies to the filing of criminal charges is the law that was in effect at the time of the crimes.

The trial is being held in Judge John Ellisor’s 122nd District Court with Kevin Petroff and Kayla Allen prosecuting. Kevin Rekoff will defend Kersh.

The trial is expected to last up to two weeks, Assistant District Attorney Casey Kirst said.

 

[Seattle1]

The trial is being held in Judge John Ellisor’s 122nd District Court with Kevin Petroff and Kayla Allen prosecuting. Kevin Rekoff will defend Kersh.

@Niner -- Given the details above, I searched using the Judge (Ellisor), the prosecutors, and Defense Attorney Kevin Rekoff, and for whatever reason, Kersh's trial does not populate.

 

[Niner]

@Niner -- Given the details above, I searched using the Judge (Ellisor), the prosecutors, and Defense Attorney Kevin Rekoff, and for whatever reason, Kersh's trial does not populate.

Well - someone has their wires crossed... maybe the court site & everything else on there is messed up... strange that an article comes out that trial is starting & nothing on the court site.
Sorry I dragged you into this one!! But REALLY do appreciate your help!!

 

[Niner]

I shall go ahead & post until someone here tells me any different!

Wednesday, October 12th:
*Trial continues (Day 2) (@ 9am CT) - TX - Thomas Earl McGraw, Jr. (28), Beth Yvette Wilburn (25) & James Craig Oatis (22) all slain in the Corvette Concepts garage, League City, Nov. 2, 1983. *Jesse Dean Kersh (25 @ time of crime/58/now 65) arrested & charged (1/26/16) & indicted (4/21/16) with 3 counts of 1st degree felony murder. Bond $150K.
Trial began on 10/10/22 with jury selection. (expected to last 2 weeks).
Case & court info from 2/14/16 to 9/26/22 reference post #35 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...lain-league-city-nov-1983-arrest.32808/page-2
10/10/22 Monday, Jury Selection Day 1: No info available. Trial continues on 10/11/22.
10/11/22 Tuesday, Trail Day 1: ?? No info available about jury selection. Trial continues on 10/12/22.

 

[worm]

The DNA and ballistics needs to be strong as it sounds like the other evidence is circumstantial and possibly shaky. A guy buying a gun at a show in Texas isn’t exactly rare. Im curious as to how close they looked at this man at the time since he was an employee. It’s late and I’m sorry to ramble, I need to dig into this more.