YULEE, Fla. – An electric carving knife is considered by the state as crucial evidence in the murder of Joleen Cummings, but will the jury hear about it?
The mother of three’s accused killer, Kimberly Kessler appeared in court this afternoon.
Her attorneys filed a flurry of motions yesterday about what evidence they want to be thrown out.
The state argues the carving knife is significant but the defense feels it’s misleading as evidence.
FULL COVERAGE: Previous stories on Kimberly Kessler, Joleen Cummings
For the first time in court on Wednesday, the state said it believes Kessler used the electric carving knife on Cummings body after she was already dead.
The defense feels it shouldn’t be used in court because it suggests she was dismembered, which is a crime Kessler is not accused of.
Kessler was once again a disruption in court Wednesday. After she was brought into the courtroom screaming, she was excused.
Once she was excused the defense presented several motions hoping to be left out of the case.
The defense believes a 9-inch electric carving knife, trash bags, gloves and ammonia should be excluded. Investigators said Kessler was seen on camera buying those items from Walmart the last night Cummings was known to be alive.
“We are not alleging that a carving knife is the instrument of death but it is the instrument of a cover-up,” prosecutors argued.
Kessler was the last person to see her co-worker leave the Tangles Hair Salon on May 12, 2018, according to detectives.
During the same time frame she stopped at Walmart, prosecutors argue Kessler was seen on surveillance video tossing trash bags into a dumpster two different times that night.
In one video, she appears to struggle to lift the bag. The state also said a blue bin found near the dumpster is significant.
“We also had a blue plastic Rubbermaid tote, same totes in her storage units, not totes at Tangles, but they are outback where she’s on video, part of nail found in tote Joleen’s DNA found on there,” prosecutors said.
The defense said the carving knife and other items have never been found and there isn’t proof that Cummings is dead.
The state argues the fact the knife has not been found is even more proof that it was used because Cummings’ body has never been found.
The judge said he couldn’t make a decision Wednesday on whether the knife should be raised as evidence, he has to consider if it could be misleading to a trial.
The state also planned to call a forensic expert who ran an experiment showing if you could in fact dismember a body using an electric carving knife.
The defense told the judge the state had that expert two years ago but only last month filed a motion to call her as a witness.
The judge ultimately said the use of the expert would be prejudicial and will not be part of the trial.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9 and the trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 6.