Witness: Gesture Indicated Guilt
(File Photo)
Romeo Pinkerton is charged in the 1983 murders of five people at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Tyler Morning Telegraph and TylerPaper.com are withholding the name of the following witness in the story at the request of prosecutors, who fear the witness could face harm because of his testimony.
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON — A hand gesture implying pulling a trigger is the answer a former cellmate got when he asked if a mass murder suspect was involved in the KFC slayings of 1983. The witness took the stand Thursday for the prosecution and told jurors Romeo Pinkerton confided in him that he and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield would never be caught because, “(the Kentucky Fried Chicken murder victims) aren’t walking this earth anymore.”
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON — A hand gesture implying pulling a trigger is the answer a former cellmate got when he asked if a mass murder suspect was involved in the KFC slayings of 1983. The witness took the stand Thursday for the prosecution and told jurors Romeo Pinkerton confided in him that he and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield would never be caught because, “(the Kentucky Fried Chicken murder victims) aren’t walking this earth anymore.”
The witness was the last person to testify Thursday and his testimony caused a stir among the family members of the slain victims and jurors. The witness said he met Pinkerton a few years ago while he was locked up in the Smith County Jail and he and Pinkerton became chess buddies, playing each morning.
The witness said it was when he told another cellmate to mind his own business that he “gained” Pinkerton’s trust. The witness said this after the cellmate saw a newspaper article bearing Pinkerton’s mug shot and declaring him a suspect in the 1983 “execution style” killings of five people abducted on Sept. 23, 1983, from the Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. The victims’ bodies would be found the next day. The witness testified he told the cellmate to mind his own business and leave it alone.
The witness said he and Pinkerton began playing chess each day and it was during one game when Pinkerton asked the witness if he knew about some murders. The witness said he told Pinkerton he didn’t know anything, then asked Pinkerton if he was involved. The witness then said Pinkerton made a handgun trigger gesture.
“We were playing chess and he brings this murder thing up from the article and what I knew about it and I didn’t know about it and basically didn’t want to know about it,” he said. “You can tell when someone is making something up and when they aren’t and that look in Romeo’s eyes I will never forget it.”
The witness told prosecutor Laura Popps, with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, that he only came forward because of his feelings, but emphatically denied any favors from the prosecution in his case.
“I didn’t want any help in my case and I have told you I don’t want to be here today,” he said.
The witness answered cross examination questions from Jeff Haas, one of Pinkerton’s attorneys, and continued to testify he had never read a newspaper article or seen any television broadcasts about the case. He did say he knew the case was in the media, but he “didn’t want to know about it.”
He testified he knew there was a robbery and that it went bad and the victims had to be taken care of.
Popps asked the witness if Pinkerton ever told him why the victims had been killed.
“So (Pinkerton and Hartsfield and possible other suspects) couldn’t tell on each other,” the witness replied.
MENTALLY RETARDED?
In other testimony Thursday, former FBI agent George Kieny testified that when he and Texas Ranger Randy Prince went to collect blood and a statement from Pinkerton on Feb. 13, 2002, the inmate was in a program for mentally retarded at the Hodges Unit in Rusk.
However, Kieny testified that he spoke with officials at the prison before talking with Pinkerton and was told that the man may not fit the requirements of the program, because it was believed he was not suffering any mental retardation.
Kieny said Pinkerton freely gave a statement and signed the document written by Kieny.
Haas asked Kieny why he wrote the statement instead of Pinkerton and Kieny replied the suspect told him he had messy penmanship.
Haas then asked if Kieny was a mental health expert or had any training with mental disorders and Kieny replied he did not.
Haas then turned his questioning to an evidence problem the state has admitted it has in the case, asking if it was true there was a chain of custody problem Kieny was trying to clear up.
“Mr. Kieny we have already established there are no photos or nothing in writing of that box or napkin in the KFC?”
Kieny replied, “Yes we have.”
Lisa Tanner, lead prosecutor in the case, asked Kieny on the redirect if Pinkerton understood Kieny and Ranger Prince’s visit.
“Yes he did,” was his reply.
Tanner had Kieny read part of Pinkerton’s statement in court.
“I was accused and questioned about the murders of the people in Kilgore, Texas, and I was cleared when the police backtracked where I was at the time of the KFC murders. I told the police I was in prison at the time of the murders,” Kieny read. “I have never been to the KFC restaurant in Kilgore and couldn’t even tell you where it was at.”
In the statement, Pinkerton also said he had not participated in any robberies or burglaries with Hartsfield.
Tanner then asked if Kieny recorded the interview and Kieny stated he had not, but in his entire FBI career had only recorded one or two interviews.
Haas took over again and said the court would know what was said during the meeting if there was a tape recording of the conversation.
“I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it,” Kieny fired back.
The state called a couple of other people, including one man who testified that, a week after the KFC murders, an African-American man driving a white van almost hit him head-on. The man testified that a week later police came to his house and asked him to look at some mug shots.
He testified he identified the driver and that person was one of three men on a wanted flier bearing the names and photos of Hartsfield, Pinkerton and Elton Winston.
Winston’s lifelong friend Robert Franklin testified he had a white van during the time period and would loan that vehicle out to Winston over weekends. Previous witnesses have testified there was a white van in the parking lot of the KFC the night of the abductions and that two black men — one identified as Pinkerton — was in the restaurant.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Friday morning in the Bowie County Courthouse where the trial was moved on a change of venue because of years of media attention.
The witness said it was when he told another cellmate to mind his own business that he “gained” Pinkerton’s trust. The witness said this after the cellmate saw a newspaper article bearing Pinkerton’s mug shot and declaring him a suspect in the 1983 “execution style” killings of five people abducted on Sept. 23, 1983, from the Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. The victims’ bodies would be found the next day. The witness testified he told the cellmate to mind his own business and leave it alone.
The witness said he and Pinkerton began playing chess each day and it was during one game when Pinkerton asked the witness if he knew about some murders. The witness said he told Pinkerton he didn’t know anything, then asked Pinkerton if he was involved. The witness then said Pinkerton made a handgun trigger gesture.
“We were playing chess and he brings this murder thing up from the article and what I knew about it and I didn’t know about it and basically didn’t want to know about it,” he said. “You can tell when someone is making something up and when they aren’t and that look in Romeo’s eyes I will never forget it.”
The witness told prosecutor Laura Popps, with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, that he only came forward because of his feelings, but emphatically denied any favors from the prosecution in his case.
“I didn’t want any help in my case and I have told you I don’t want to be here today,” he said.
The witness answered cross examination questions from Jeff Haas, one of Pinkerton’s attorneys, and continued to testify he had never read a newspaper article or seen any television broadcasts about the case. He did say he knew the case was in the media, but he “didn’t want to know about it.”
He testified he knew there was a robbery and that it went bad and the victims had to be taken care of.
Popps asked the witness if Pinkerton ever told him why the victims had been killed.
“So (Pinkerton and Hartsfield and possible other suspects) couldn’t tell on each other,” the witness replied.
MENTALLY RETARDED?
In other testimony Thursday, former FBI agent George Kieny testified that when he and Texas Ranger Randy Prince went to collect blood and a statement from Pinkerton on Feb. 13, 2002, the inmate was in a program for mentally retarded at the Hodges Unit in Rusk.
However, Kieny testified that he spoke with officials at the prison before talking with Pinkerton and was told that the man may not fit the requirements of the program, because it was believed he was not suffering any mental retardation.
Kieny said Pinkerton freely gave a statement and signed the document written by Kieny.
Haas asked Kieny why he wrote the statement instead of Pinkerton and Kieny replied the suspect told him he had messy penmanship.
Haas then asked if Kieny was a mental health expert or had any training with mental disorders and Kieny replied he did not.
Haas then turned his questioning to an evidence problem the state has admitted it has in the case, asking if it was true there was a chain of custody problem Kieny was trying to clear up.
“Mr. Kieny we have already established there are no photos or nothing in writing of that box or napkin in the KFC?”
Kieny replied, “Yes we have.”
Lisa Tanner, lead prosecutor in the case, asked Kieny on the redirect if Pinkerton understood Kieny and Ranger Prince’s visit.
“Yes he did,” was his reply.
Tanner had Kieny read part of Pinkerton’s statement in court.
“I was accused and questioned about the murders of the people in Kilgore, Texas, and I was cleared when the police backtracked where I was at the time of the KFC murders. I told the police I was in prison at the time of the murders,” Kieny read. “I have never been to the KFC restaurant in Kilgore and couldn’t even tell you where it was at.”
In the statement, Pinkerton also said he had not participated in any robberies or burglaries with Hartsfield.
Tanner then asked if Kieny recorded the interview and Kieny stated he had not, but in his entire FBI career had only recorded one or two interviews.
Haas took over again and said the court would know what was said during the meeting if there was a tape recording of the conversation.
“I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it,” Kieny fired back.
The state called a couple of other people, including one man who testified that, a week after the KFC murders, an African-American man driving a white van almost hit him head-on. The man testified that a week later police came to his house and asked him to look at some mug shots.
He testified he identified the driver and that person was one of three men on a wanted flier bearing the names and photos of Hartsfield, Pinkerton and Elton Winston.
Winston’s lifelong friend Robert Franklin testified he had a white van during the time period and would loan that vehicle out to Winston over weekends. Previous witnesses have testified there was a white van in the parking lot of the KFC the night of the abductions and that two black men — one identified as Pinkerton — was in the restaurant.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Friday morning in the Bowie County Courthouse where the trial was moved on a change of venue because of years of media attention.
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