Posted on 01/08/2014 6:36:05 AM PST by Drew68
On January 7, the capital murder trial began for a man charged with killing his neighbors after a prolonged dog-poop dispute. Issues of race, language, economics and age complicate the already unusual case.
Chung Kim, 76, allegedly shot and killed Michelle Jackson and Jaime Stafford on February 4, 2013, at Sable Ridge Condominiums in North Dallas. Jackson and Stafford, who were African-Americans in their 30s, lived in the unit above Kim and his wife. Kim, a South Korean immigrant, is using an interpreter for the trial and has previously stated he acted in self-defense.
It is well-documented that Jackson and Stafford frequently washed dog feces from their balcony onto Kim’s. The condo’s homeowners association received reports of dog-poop dumping dating back to August 2012.
Kim provided photos of his balcony’s poop-streaked windows, floors and walls to a variety of entities. Animal control eventually took the couple’s dog away, but the poop problems didn’t end. In December 2012, after Jackson gave birth to her fifth child, the couple began tossing dirty diapers over their balcony and onto the unit below them.
Kim and his wife owned their first floor condo and had lived there for more than a decade. Jackson was renting her unit through Section 8 housing on a month-to-month lease. In addition to voicing his complaints with the condo association, Kim reported the excrement issues to the Dallas Police Department, the City of Dallas Health and Human Services Department.
Condo maintenance supervisor Keith Morris said he was aware of the ongoing dispute between Kim and his neighbors. Morris said he had personally cleaned Kim’s balcony on at least two occasions, and once used a power washer to remove the poop.
Morris testified that he was picking up trash in the parking lot on February 4, 2013, when he heard Kim yelling, followed by two gunshots. Then, he saw Jackson’s body lying on the floor of her second-story balcony.
Assistant district attorney Herschel Woods asked Morris who fired the gun.
“I was in shock,” Morris said. “It was Mr. Kim.”
Morris testified that he took cover behind the building because he feared for his life. When he emerged, Morris said he saw Kim step over Jackson’s lifeless body on the balcony and enter her unit while firing his weapon.
Jackson’s boyfriend, Jaime Stafford, was shot and killed as he tried to flee his residence.
At the time of the murders, a grainy security video from the condo’s parking lot and pool area shows a shadowy figure appearing to move from Kim’s ground-floor unit to the one directly above him occupied by Jackson and Stafford. Jurors craned their necks and squinted to make out the video, which also shows a figure enter Kim’s black Lexus SUV minutes after the murders and drive away from the complex.
Forensic scientist David Walker Spence testified that Kim had significant gun-shot particles on his hands when tested the day of the murders.
“There’s no way of me knowing, based on this testing, if one individual fired a gun or was just in proximity to the gun,” Spence said.
Police recovered a black Glock 45 handgun from Kim’s SUV the day of the murder. It was loaded and placed underneath the driver’s seat. 45-caliber shells and casings were found at the scene of the crime.
Carlata Robinson, the condo’s HOA president, testified about the extent of the animal and baby feces on Kim’s property. She said the amount, location and frequency of the feces made it a health issue.
On January 31, 2013, more poop appeared on Kim’s balcony. This time, instead of being washed down from the balcony, it appeared to be piled up deliberately on Kim’s property.
“This issue has been ongoing for months,” Robinson wrote in an email the same day to the HOA board about Jackson and Stafford’s behavior. “Mr. Kim is about to reach his breaking point.”
Robinson had helped coordinate the couple’s eviction process, which was to begin February 1. Robinson testified that she never told Kim about the pending eviction. Three days later, Jackson and Stafford were dead.
“This is terrible tenant behavior,” Woods said. “It’s not the way neighbors are supposed to act … but is taking a Glock 45 and shooting people in the head a reasonable way to resolve a dispute?” he asked.
“No,” Robinson said.
Testimony continues January 8 in the 291st Criminal Court in Dallas.
“Morris... saw Kim step over Jackson’s lifeless body on the balcony and enter her unit while firing his weapon.”
And that is what is going to sink Mr. Kim. He could claim self defense with the first shooting but when he went into that apartment he was clearly on a mop up mission.
They just might.
Yes, but it’s still not a pretty trauma to go through.
Ideally, the children will grow up with a complete understanding of the details that led to their parents death.
But they'll probably just grow up hating Koreans.
I have been a landlord since I was 26 (over three decades). I never accepted Section 8. I have nice homes and there was no profit in turning it over to someone who would destroy it.
That being said. If I were the down stairs guy, the first thing I would have done was sue the owner of the upstairs unit. Not the tenants, the owner. No quicker way to get the tenants out. It would not be about winning the suit. It would be about harassing thw owner to get something done.
It seems the low life gibsmedats got exactly what they were asking for...trouble. And Mr. Kim gave them an extra heaping helping of it. Too bad Kim might go to jail over this. He should have done it some day in the future...from a distance...with a hunting rifle.
What the Corporate Media liars are trying to insinuate here is that the degenerates would be evicted in a few weeks. But its only the process that would begin in a few weeks. The process to evict Section 8 leeches can take years!
“This man was failed by everyone he tried to take his complaints to”
The eviction process was to begin the next day. If the landlord had told Kim .....
Not Guilty. Give Mr. Kim a medal for Outstanding Community Service.
De facto truth: self defense doesn’t apply when it’s an Asian defending himself from “blacks”.
I don’t know if suing the landlord would have evicted these tenants any faster. When it comes to Section 8 and the other housing and public assistance programs, the decision to evict rests with the bureaucracy that administers the programs, not with the landlord. From what Dad’s friend said, the whole process is one lengthy stay in hell. And if the bureaucracies won’t agree to the eviction, the landlord is stuck with these tenants.
And after he walked, I'd hope he sued the feral trash's landlord for the cost of two .45 rounds.
Not a fan of killing, but I would have done some mind-bending psy-ops to make them leave.
Except he snapped. Sounds like like fecal litter when from inconsiderate negligence to the deliberate actions of purposefully piling it up on his front porch.
I like to wonder if as his neighbors found themselves looking down the barrel of Mr. Kim's Glock, their final thoughts were a brief moment of clarity, "maybe we shouldn't have done that."
Ah-yup. Particularly in light of that “Mr. Kim is about to reach his breaking point.” e-mail.
Yup. Not guilty!
And at every hearing they'll show up with their 5 kids in tow, pleading for leniency and promising never to do it again.
And of course, once the media gets a hold of the story... "Family of 7 evicted on Christmas over dog poop" that would make it sound like a one-time accident and paint Mr. Kim as a grouchy old Asian guy who hates black people.
SHE was the renter of the SECTION 8 property-—which also had her boyfriend living there.
I believe this is a direct violation of Section 8 edicts.
IF they were married, not a problem, and HIS income would also be considered.
Instead, this is ANOTHER example of cheating the Section 8 housing system.
The dog poop issue is nasty enough Throwing dirty diapers over from your balcony to the lower unit is beyond disgusting. Feral animals, IMO.
NOT Guilty if I am on the jury.
“Who was behind the eviction’......
Look again- That unmarried couple sucking Section 8 money out of the taxpayers & throwing dirty diapers onto the lower balcony are the persons RESPONSIBLE for the eviction....NO ONE ELSE.
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