John Kenney

I have said before that neighbor dispute crimes interest me quite a bit due to the fact that it could happen to any one of us. You never know when you move into a home or someone new moves in just what you may be getting into or who you are getting. This particular case proves this almost more than any others that I have blogged about. This neighbor dispute began over little more than a piece of dirt that has been described as no bigger than a surfboard. It measured about ten foot by four foot and it cost two people their lives.

On January 29, 2007 Elizabeth Grimes called 911 from her Carmel Valley California home. The call to the operator would record all that would happen next and would be used later in court to dispute the what the defendant said happened. Melvin and Elizabeth Grimes got married and bought their home in 1995. Four years later John Kenney would move to the property adjacent to the Grimes home. John Kenney has been described as an eccentric geologist. It was said that he spent his time living in Carmel Valley, Texas, and France. He was married, with two daughters. It is unclear how exactly the relationship was but it was alleged that after 2005 his wife and daughters quit going to the Carmel Valley home and considered their residence as France. Kenney's daughter would claim that this decision was made after an incident between her father and Elizabeth Grimes.

In 2005 John Kinney and the Grimeses were in court together. Allegations flew between the two parties. According to the Grimeses things started out fine between the two families but in 2002 they began getting “bizarre emails” from Kenney. That is as much as I could determine as nothing seemed to be specific as to just what those emails entailed. The Grimeses claimed that Kenney harassed them, took pictures of them and had erected two metal poles to block their carport. They even accused him of attempting to poison their dogs and cats. For his part John Kenney accused the Grimeses of dumping “waste” on his property, adding onto their home without permits and infringing on his property, allowing their dogs to defecate on his property and pounding on his windows late at night.

But, what had brought them to court in November of 2005 was an incident that had happened the previous summer. According to John Kenney he was taking pictures of Mel Grimes “driving on his property” when Elizabeth had approached him, grabbing his camera, that was apparently wrapped around his neck, seriously injuring him. This was the incident his daughter would speak of that ended the family coming to the property. The Grimes would claim that John Kenney was spying on them and that it was Kenney who had attacked Elizabeth. They would claim that any injury Kenney claimed to have was fabricated.

While the case in 2005 surrounded the alleged assault (coming from both sides) the underlying issue always was the property lines and this small patch of “dirt.” It appears that the judge in the case really did nothing about either issue. She simply told them to avoid each other and settle things in a civil manner. Some have argued that with out issuing restraining orders or any other order that could be enforced by police officer it potentially not necessarily made things worse, but definitely did not help matters.

Everything came to a head on January 29, 2007. John Kenney did something on the advice of his attorney. Now, let me tell you something that some people may not know. If you are given advice from an attorney, and you follow that advice, regardless if what you were told to do was legal or not you cannot use the attorney as an excuse. This is something that always bites at me a bit. People go to lawyers to get LEGAL advice and most would assume that when they tell you something you can follow it without legal ramifications. I mean why would we believe that our lawyer would give us advice that was not legal? But, it happens and again it is not a defense in court. Of course, this case progressed more than just going on lawyer advice, although it was another sort of advice given to Kenney by his lawyer that was thought to have given Kenney the idea of his defense, long before he went into court.

So, John Kenney's lawyer had suggested that he place a boulder on this “patch of dirt” that he claimed was his property but the Grimeses had to access to get to their carport. Inside the carport they already had a VW bus. Mel Grimes was said to be a “hippie” and it sounds as if the bus was more for show, but of course it was his property. Now, first off it has been argued that it appears that throughout all of this neither the Grimes, John Kenney, nor any of their lawyers ever just did a title search on the property. In fairness, the Grimeses did not likely have a lawyer since that was what Melvin Grimes did for a living. Even still apparently after the incident of January 29^th and before John Kenney went on trial for his action there was a title search done. In fact, it has been alleged that if John Kenney would have read the documents he signed when he bought his house a title search would not have even been needed. Either way, and to be fair I have not seen the said title, apparently both items showed that while this small patch of land was technically John Kenney's, the Grimeses had easement rights to access their own property. John Kenney probably would not have liked it at all and may have still caused a huge fuss about it, and maybe he did already know but pretended he did not. At any rate, this piece of land was what was said to have been the core problem between the two households. But, in the meantime John Kenney's lawyer suggested that placing this boulder there could “solve” his problems. It seems though by the actions that John Kenney made on the day the boulder was place, even he knew this would solve nothing. At the time the boulder was being delivered it was said that John Kenney had his lawyer present as well as a “security guard” although I cannot say who this supposed person was. It was also said that he called the local sheriff's department and asked them to come out in case there was trouble when the boulder was delivered. The supposed security guard and Kenney's lawyer stayed while the boulder was delivered and for a bit after. The sheriff's department allegedly showed up as the truck that had carried the boulder was leaving, talked to the driver and decided since nothing had happened they were not needed.

Now, the second piece of advice I mentioned earlier that was given to John Kenney by his lawyer pertained to what rights John had to protect himself and his property. His lawyer admitted to the courts that he had advised Kenney that if the Grimeses came onto his property, apparently specifically into his home he had the right to defend himself and if deadly force was needed, it could be used. That appears to have been the last bit of advice that the lawyer gave him before leaving John Kenney's home on January 29^th.

Some information says that Melvin Grimes encountered the boulder when he returned home from work that day. Other information says that the Grimeses had driven separately to a doctor appointment for Melvin who reportedly had some heart issues and it was after this appointment that Melvin Grimes would find the boulder blocking his entrance into his carport. Either way obviously Melvin Grimes was not happy. As he went and retrieved a sledgehammer to apparently chip away at the boulder, Elizabeth was calling 911. It seems she knew there was going to be a confrontation and it happened while she was on the call.

In the 911 call Elizabeth can be heard telling her husband to stop hitting the boulder. Friends and family believe she was likely scared that with his heart issues he would have a heart attack. While this was going on John Kenney came down the hill from his house, with his gun in his waistband. Elizabeth begged the operator to send help. Kenney could be heard on the call yelling “Get off my property.” Elizabeth responded with “You shut up. Get out of our lives.” Prosecutors would say (my research said it this way so it seemed to be unclear if it was clearly heard) that Kenney could then be heard saying “Welcome Elizabeth. Welcome to hell.” Then there would be a “rustling” noise before two gunshots rang out. Next the call would hear Elizabeth scream before two more gunshots would be heard. The 911 call recorded Elizabeth and Melvin Grimes tell each other they loved each other and then there was a fifth shot heard before the call went silent.

There are reports that John Kenney made a 911 call of his own after all of the shots rang out and while I could not find anything specific in my research about this I recall seeing a Dateline episode about this case that referred to it. As I recall John Kenney's call did not indicate that his neighbors were injured in any way what so ever or that he had shot them. This was later used against him showing that he not only had no remorse for his actions but that he did nothing to help his victims. Melvin Grimes would die at the scene while Elizabeth would die on her way to the hospital.

John Kenney would go on trial in September of 2008. There would be several delays in the case. The fact that Melvin Grimes was a defense attorney it was said not only did Kenney have issue in finding a lawyer to represent him but also to find a prosecutor and a judge that was not bias against him. The trial was to begin at some point but the prosecutor became ill and had to withdraw which again delayed the trial. John Kenney would claim self defense against his neighbors saying that he feared for his life considering that Melvin Grimes had a sledgehammer. The prosecution would use the 911 call from Elizabeth to show that it was Kenney who had confronted the Grimeses and started the altercation. They would also show that at least one of the shots to Elizabeth had been in the back, showing that she was retreating from him when he shot her. The fifth shot heard in the phone call also disputed his self defense claims.

The defense argued that the Grimeses had harassed John Kenney as well as previously assaulted him. They would point out a toxicology report that allegedly stated that Elizabeth had a blood alcohol level of .06. I am unsure what they thought to gain from this because that level, while obviously showed alcohol was not even a legal limit of intoxication. They also brought witnesses to the stand that attested to Kenney's character, something the prosecution stated they were unable to do for the victims, which to the prosecutor seemed to be unfair especially considering that the defense tactic was to victim shame. The defense would argue that the Grimeses had not used the carport area until 2004 but the prosecution had witness who disputed that. My research stated that it had been used since 1988, some ten years before Kenney bought the property but I am unsure that this is true. I say this because it was several years prior to even the Grimeses moving to the property and there was indication that the carport was not built until after they had bought the property. Then again there is the argument that the documents Kenney signed when he bought his house included the easement to the neighbors.

Although it was argued among the witnesses and those who knew of the situation that this all surrounded the issue of property lines both the defense and the prosecution agreed that was not going to be an issue at trial. For the prosecution their decision seems clear. They had the 911 calls on their side which had recorded the shooting and what led up to it. I suspect the defense first brought up not bringing up the property line issues considering by the time it went to court they knew that John Kenney had no legal right to stop the Grimeses from using that portion of land. They did however bring in witnesses who would testify about Kenney's “neighbors from hell” and about prior incidents, including the alleged assault by Elizabeth. One witness alleged that they “heard” Elizabeth yell to her husband “leave him alone” indicating that she was telling her husband not to approach Kenney. However I question this considering that it only said the neighbor “heard” Elizabeth yell. I do not know how this neighbor would know who Elizabeth was yelling at if they did not see what was going on. There was no one, not even John as far as I could tell, that would say that Melvin Grimes ever attempted to go after John Kenney with the sledgehammer.

The prosecutors would argue that Kenney had “laid in wait” for the Grimeses to return home and had charged him with capital murder. I do not believe they were going for the death penalty but I cannot say for sure. I suspect if they did not it was due to Kenney's age, something I will address in a bit. The prosecution felt this was an adequate theory considering that he had come down the hill with his gun and all of the witnesses he had present, or attempted to have present, when the boulder was delivered. Those actions indicated that he knew when the Grimeses arrived home there would be trouble.

After three days of deliberation the jury would return with their verdicts. In the death of Elizabeth Grimes the jury would convict John Kenney for first degree murder. In the death of Melvin Grimes they had decided on second degree. Experts have argued that these verdicts indicated they did not believe that he had “laid in wait” and may have given a small amount of credence to John's story of fear considering that Melvin did have the sledgehammer. They also fined him $30,000. After the verdict was read a few of the jurors spoke to the media and stated that the 911 call was what had all but clinched their decision. They felt that the call had contradicted Kenney's story and found him less credible. Kenney would receive a sentence of life without parole for Elizabeth's murder and for Melvin's he received a sentence of fifteen to life.

In 2012 the court of appeals upheld his conviction but they did lower his fine to $10,000. One of the interesting things about the appeal was that it seemed that it continued to argue that the murders had been an act of self defense. I find it odd that this was mentioned in the appeal because the purpose of an appeal is to argue that mistakes were made in the trial, such as evidence admitted that should not have been or a ruling by a judge that the defense argued was wrong. An appeal is not a procedure to continue to argue the case. But, it seems that the attorney's felt this was needed as they also argued that the court had failed to fully explain self-defense laws. The courts answered saying, “a reasonable jury could have inferred from the evidence that the defendant provoked a fight with the Grimeses with the intent to create an excuse to use force.” This is where the later advice by his attorney came in. The courts believed that Kenney had asked his attorney these questions on the day of the murder to give himself a defense later in court believing he could use force if he claimed to be in fear of his life. Of course Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine laws across the country have made these all a little hazy now.

After the murders Kenney would sue the Grimeses estate for vandalizing his property and for the alleged attack by Elizabeth. He argued that he was simply taking pictures of them trespassing on his property. His case would later be dismissed by the courts.

The Department of Corrections website shows that John Kenney is still an inmate in the system. It shows his age as being eighty-eight currently. This comes at odds with so many other records of his age at particular times, something that I have not seen in the past. Many articles stated that at the time of his conviction he was seventy-four years old and in articles about his appeal being denied it would say he was seventy-seven in 2012. While his age really matters not in comparison of the crimes he committed it does give a little idea of how much time he may spend in prison, as well as possibly his age and ability at the time of the murders.

In the end this all came down to a man, who allegedly had issues with neighbors in his past, who started an argument over a piece of property “the size of a surfboard,” and a couple who refused to back down and allow someone to prevent access to part of their home. If the allegations are correction this could have possibly all been settled by simply looking at some paperwork.