Facebook
RSS![[Nameplate]](http://www.dddnews.com/images/nameplate.png)
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Read comments (2)
Staff photo by Joshua Payne
A nearly 40-year-old murder case in Dunklin County, which went to trial for the first time in 1970, resulting in a hung jury, completed a retrial at the Dunklin County Courthouse on Friday, December 4, 2009, resulting in the defendant, Theodore Kleine, being found guilty of two first degree murder charges.
The first trial of the State of Missouri vs. Theodore Kleine case took place in 1970 in Butler County, due to a request of change of venue by the defense. Following this trial and deliberation from the jury, the trial was dismissed due to a hung jury.
Photo provided
He added that once he became aware the case had never had a second trial, Investigator with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Walter Dearing began collecting information for the case.
Sokoloff noted that Dearing located witnesses and the pathologist, along with physical evident including the gun and clothes.
Photo provided
He explained that he contacted the current court reporter in Butler County to obtain the original transcripts, but was told that the files were damaged and thrown away following a pipe bursting at the court house and flooding all the notes.
Sokoloff continued searching and found a copy of the original transcript being stored in the closet by a former Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney, Frank Holder.
Holder had transcribed the original trial, with the possibility of retrying the case, according to Sokoloff.
The clothing worn by the defendant at the time of the incident had been sent to the lab in 1970. It was determined that human blood was on the clothes, although enough blood was not present to determine a blood type.
Sokoloff obtained the clothing with blood and secured DNA samples from relatives of both victims.
Sokoloff noted that upon sending the information to the lab, he was informed that the blood stains were too deteriorated to give DNA profiles.
Theodore Kleine was arrested on two counts of first degree murder in April of 2008, and was retried on the charges on Friday, December 4, 2009.
Four men and eight women made up the jury that heard a total of 14 testimonies. Eleven of these testimonies were the prosecutor's witnesses, while three of them were the defense's witnesses. The prosecutor's witnesses included Johnny Bedwell, who discovered the body of Brian Bradford; Oran Hanover, the defendant's uncle; Dennis Kleine, brother of the defendant; Chris Wood, who traveled to the river with the group; Deputy Sheriff responding to the incident, Bob McDonald; Highway Patrol Officer responding to the incident, Gene Duckworth; Afton Ware, who completed the original blood work; Todd Garrison, who completed the original ballistics test; Tom Doherty, coroner for the incident; Virgil Low; and Dr. Steven Cassel, who performed the original autopsy. The defense's witnesses included Erma Kleine, mother of the defendant; Harold Click; and Clyde Jaquecs, a Campbell police officer at the time of the incident; along with the defendant Theodore Kleine.
According to Sokoloff the testimonies from the witnesses explained that Theodore, Dennis, Seutter, and Bradford traveled from St. Louis, Mo., to visit Hanover, who lived in the area at the time.
Sokoloff noted that Theodore, Dennis, and Seutter were roommates in St. Louis and Bradford spent time at the home because he was Seutter's boyfriend.
When visiting Hanover the group of four, plus Wood, who lived in Campbell, decided to take Bradford's car out to St. Francis river to shoot a gun , according to Sokoloff.
He explained that the vehicle had a flat tire when the group arrived at the river. Following shooting the gun for a while, Dennis returned to the vehicle and changed the flat tire. Dennis then traveled back to the City of Campbell with Wood to eat dinner and return Wood to his home, according to Sokoloff.
He noted that when Dennis returned to the river, at approximately 8 p.m., he could not find anyone, but saw the gun laying on the ground.
Sokoloff explained that Dennis found his brother, who noted that Bradford and Seutter had hitchhiked to California carrying the rifle with them.
Dennis told his brother that he had already found the rifle and returned to retrieve the gun, according to Sokoloff.
He noted that Dennis questioned Theodore again as to the whereabouts of Bradford and Seutter, to which Theodore replied, "They knocked off my glasses, so I shot them." Sokoloff added that Dennis believed his brother to be joking when this statement was made.
He noted that the brothers then returned to Hanover's house who also asked about Bradford and Seutter. Upon questioning, Theodore gave the same explanation to his uncle even including the part that Bradford had the rifle.
Hanover took the brothers inside and cleaned the rifle while Theodore changed out of his muddy clothes, according to Sokoloff.
He noted that Hanover then informed the brothers to go back to the river and search for the two, and if they were not found to stop at the Campbell Police Department and notify them that the two are missing.
The brothers could not locate Bradford and Seutter and stopped to notify the Campbell Police Department, according to Sokoloff.
The next morning Johnny Bedwell, of Campbell, visited the river, where his boat had remained over the course of the night. When entering the water that morning, Bedwell saw something floating near the surface, according to Sokoloff.
He added that Bedwell reached out to grab the object and discovered that it was the hand of Bradford.
Sokoloff noted that McDonald was notified of the discovery and arrived to search the scene. Upon searching, McDonald located several shell casings from the rifle, with two of the shell casings being found underneath the bridge, according to Sokoloff.
He added that the search also led to the discovery of the body of Seutter.
McDonald located a military I.D. on the body of Bradford, which helped to identify the body and move the investigation to Hanover's home.
Hanover gave McDonald the rifle and the clothes worn by Theodore the night of the incident, according to Sokoloff.
He added that the autopsy defined the cause of death as the result of a high power rifle being shot into the head of each victim. Also, lab testing determined that the clothes worn by Theodore, the night of the incident, obtained human blood, according to Sokoloff.
In Sokoloff's closing statements to the jury he noted that he had asked the jury if they were comfortable with the proposition that circumstantial evidence is as worthy as direct evidence. He added that the jury selected had voiced that an eyewitness was not necessary to convict someone of a crime.
Sokoloff explained that the defendant noted that Bradford and Seutter had walked to the highway carrying the rifle, "the same rifle seen by Dennis laying on the bridge, not a half an hour later."
He added that Theodore said the couple were walking to California, when they had a car in the town.
Sokoloff noted that Theodore said he took the same path as Seutter and Bradford when leaving the bridge and was approximately 15 minutes behind them and never passed them or saw them. He added that Theodore then returns to the bridge to find the rifle that Bradford was supposed to be carrying.
He explained that several officials had identified the wounds being from a high powered rifle, which was the same kind of weapon the defendant had in his possession at the time the victims were shot. Sokoloff added that when found, the rifle had two shells missing from the clip.
Theodore said that the blood on his clothing was his own blood from being cut on the trunk lid when changing a second flat tire when returning to the bridge to look for Bradford and Seutter, according to Sokoloff.
He added that Theodore noted the trunk was jagged from bullets holes being shot into it.
Sokoloff explained that if the trunk was shot from the outside the jagged edges would point inward, and that Dennis had testified that there was no second flat tire. He added that Theodore had changed clothes when the brother's arrived at the home, before the second trip. The clothes that he changed out of were the ones that obtained the blood, according to Sokoloff.
Sokoloff also explained that the defendant had admitted to the murders three times on the way back to Campbell with Dennis. He added that the defendant also confessed the crimes to his ex-wife Deann, 25 years after they occurred, and on two occasions.
In his second closing argument, Sokoloff noted that the defendant used a testimony from Jaquecs to prove that he was bleeding when visiting the Campbell Police Department after the second trip to the river. He added that the same testimony noted that Theodore was not wearing a shirt under his denim jacket.
"[The blood] could not have gotten on his shirt, because he wasn't wearing one," Sokoloff said.
He also explained that Low's testimony revealed that he had seen Theodore on the bridge bannister with the gun, just after it started to get dark. Sokoloff added that this was the same time the defendant testified that Bradford had left with the gun in his possession.
"We sit and watch TV about the murders that happen and turn to our family members and ask why doesn't somebody do something about these murders," Sokoloff said. "Well folks, the police can investigate, collect evidence, and bring it to the lab to be tested, and I can file charges, and the clerk can swear in witnesses that were coming to testify. In the final analysis, the 'they' that can do something about this, the ones with the power, are you the jury. You can send a message that in Dunklin County even if it takes 40 years, murderers will be held accountable."
Following deliberation, the jury found the defendant guilty of two counts of murder in the first degree.
The defendants was sentenced to life in prison with no parole and a minimum of 50 years.
Sokoloff noted that the death penalty was not an option due to the date of the original trial. He explained that in 1970 the death penalty had been taken out of Missouri law to have certain stipulations added. The death penalty was not made available again until 1975, according to Sokoloff.
He noted that he was "extremely happy," with the outcome of the case. "I was convinced he was guilty," Sokoloff said.
He added that the case was difficult for the prosecution because of the lack of witnesses to testify live in the court room. This was caused by the age of the case and the amount of witnesses deceased or unable to travel to testify due to health problems, according to Sokoloff.
Although there were issues, Sokoloff noted that "it all fell together."
He also said that two sisters and once niece of Seutter were present at the trial, while 10 to 12 family members of the Bradford family attended, which included hi son, son's wife, and grandson.
Sokoloff added that one of Bradford's brothers, James, had spent several years trying to get the case re-filed and that a great burden had been lifted off of him with this verdict.
"The family is extremely pleased and relieved with the results of the case, as was I," Sokoloff said.
James Bradford noted that he was "happy for closure."
He added that if it wasn't for Sokoloff and Dearing then the case would have kept being ignored.
James said that he called regularly for the first 15 years trying to get the refiling of the case moving, and that he called occasionally for the next five years, but was ignored on all occasions.
"They pretty much put me on hold and ignore me," James said.
He noted that Dearing received the case and realized that there should have been conviction in the first trial.
"Dearing and Sokoloff went full speed ahead and we are very happy with the outcome," James said.
He added that the two did a "good job and went above and beyond taking into consideration the number of years [between the trials]."
Sokoloff and Dearing were "always available" to talk to the family and "explained everything" through the process of putting the case together, according to James.
"They took more time than anybody else would," James said.
Comments
glad this one is over with but cant tell who the good lukin girl is on the front row
To Mr Sokoloff and Mr Deering.....these Cold Cases are usually very difficult. Obviously this one was too. Like so many crimes this one made no sense. Thank you both for the hard work and your excellence in putting the Evidence together. You got Justice for the victims and their poor familys....and the citizens of Dunklin County. Congratulations on your fine work.