Jury Finds Kenneth Childs Not Guilty

It took close to 90 minutes for a Kimball County jury of 6 women and 6 men to acquit Kenneth Childs of the one charge of Subornation of Perjury. Subornation of perjury is “persuading” or “convincing” someone to lie on the witness stand in an official proceeding.

Kenneth Childs was accused but found not guilty of Subornation of Perjury, attempting to persuade his wife, Jean Childs, to lie on the witness stand.

The jury pool began their day, Wednesday, May 29 at 8:30 a.m. The potential jurors were questioned by the Honorable Derek Weimer. Judge Weimer “appreciated people taking time out of their day” and he thanked all of the jury pool for their “willingness to serve.” He acknowledged that most people would rather be at work than on a jury.

Early on a few individuals were released by the judge due to possible conflict or knowledge of some incidents. After the judge questioned individuals, the attorneys proceeded to the voir dire process-meaning to “seek the truth”. Voir dire is the process by which potential jurors are questioned about their background and possible biases before being chosen to sit on a jury.

Paul Schaub cautioned the possible jurors not to form an opinion until all of the testimony and evidence was submitted and reviewed. Schaub told the jury pool that they should base their decision on evidence.

Court appointed attorney for Kenneth Childs, Audrey Elliott explained the charge of subornation of perjury and asked the potential jurors how they could tell if someone was lying. A variety of individuals answered how they determined if someone was lying.

Finally, the attorneys narrowed their choices for jurors down to twelve and a thirteenth individual as an alternate.

Special prosecutor Paul Schaub, Cheyenne County Attorney, called three witnesses including Chief Deputy Marla Knigge, Kimball County Attorney David Wilson, and State Patrol Investigator Travis Wallace. Exhibits included a recording of the initial contact with Childs and his wife about a disturbance to a road within the village of Dix, a 2016 transcript of a previous trial where Childs was charged and found guilty of “injury to a public road” in county court, and a follow-up interview with Mr. Childs by Investigator Travis Wallace of the Nebraska State Patrol.

The defense then made a Motion for Directed Verdict. According to Ms. Elliott: “That means that I am asking the Court to make a determination that based on the facts presented, there is no dispute as to those facts and there can only be one reasonable decision based on those facts. Thus, my Motion was stating that the facts, that we argue were not in dispute, show that the only reasonable decision to be made is that of not guilty. When the Court overrules that motion, essentially, it is saying that there are some disputed facts and, the jury, who is the fact-finder, should be the one to make the determination if a defendant is not guilty (or guilty).” 

The Judge opted to have the jury make the decision.

By the middle of the afternoon, both attorneys had presented their closing statements and the jury went behind closed doors to deliberate. By 5:15 p.m. the not guilty verdict was read and the jury was dismissed.

The court appointed defense attorney Audrey Elliott reacted to the verdict, “I was happy for my client and pleased that the jury was able to listen to the evidence and provide a just result as we believed the State lacked evidence to support a claim that Mr. Childs suborned perjury. Suborning Perjury is not a “usual” crime that is prosecuted, so it was a different and interesting case to defend and present to the jury.”

She continued “In this case, the jury determined that the State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Childs persuaded his wife to make a false statement under oath about a material fact that affected the outcome of the prior proceeding.”