FAYETTEVILLE — It’s not clear what sparked a fatal fight under an Elkins bridge, but it may have been two drunken ex-cons telling prison stories.
The outcome was Jacob Holly, 28, stabbed Chris Kelley, 44, and Shawn Kelley, 22, multiple times. Chris Kelly died and Shawn Kelley was badly injured in the altercation the night of July 14.
Holly is on trial in Washington County Circuit Court, charged with second-degree murder and first-degree battery.
Legal Lingo
Medical Examiner
A physician charged with investigating sudden, suspicious, unexplained, or unnatural deaths. Medical examiners determine such things as the positive identification of a corpse, the time of death, if death occurred where the corpse was found, and the manner and cause of death. They conduct autopsies and other medical tests to determine the details of a death.
Source: Staff Reports
Shannon Bingaman, a passer-by, said Chris Kelley was “falling down drunk” when he stopped at the river looking for a place to fish. Bingaman described the mood under the bridge as tense. Chris Kelley and Holly were cussing and arguing back and forth. Bingaman decided to fish elsewhere that night.
“I didn’t get a good vibe down there,” Bingaman said.
According to testimony from several witnesses, Holly and Chris Kelley were under the Arkansas 74 bridge fishing and drinking then began talking about being in the penitentiary. The discussion upset Shawn Kelley, who asked the men to change the subject.
By all accounts the men agreed to talk about something else. Holly and Shawn Kelley even went to the store for more whiskey. But, a few hours later, the deadly fight ensued in the dark, on a rocky bank under the bridge.
Holly maintains he stabbed the two men in self-defense after both attacked him and tried to drown him in the White River.
Police and prosecutors say Holly told ever evolving stories during two interviews with investigators from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Holly told detective Chuck Rexford three men attacked him, then he said Chris Kelley and Shawn Kelley attacked him from behind and, in yet another version, Shawn Kelley had punched him in the face for no reason. In some versions, the fight started on the bank and, in others, in the water.
Holly said Chris Kelley attacked him with a knife and in another version Kelley cut his hand as Holly tried to get a knife from his tackle bag to defend himself.
Police said there was no indication a knife other than Holly’s kitchen knife was used in the fight.
Holley told detective Steve Hulsey he was in the river when he saw Chris Kelley get in the truck and leave the area with Misty Kelley, his wife, and an injured Shawn Kelley. That statement came about three hours after Chris Kelley’s dead body was pulled from the river the next day.
“They were all in the truck,” Holly said in a video-taped interview.
“If you saw him get in the truck, how’d he get back down in the water?” Hulsey asked, after telling Holley police had found Chris Kelley’s body.
Holley put his head in his hands and sobbed. He maintained he saw Chris Kelley leave and denied there was a second altercation.
The defense contends Holly tried to call 911 before going up on the bridge to flag help. Phone records show he may have misdialed.
The defense also portrayed Chris Kelley as a violent man, particularly when he’d been drinking. Chris Kelley’s body had a blood alcohol level of .33 when he was autopsied at the state crime lab. Holley’s blood alcohol wasn’t tested.
Dr. Charles Kokes, chief medical examiner at the state crime lab, said Chris Kelley had at least eight cuts and stab wounds. The fatal stab wound, in the left side of his neck, cut a major artery, went through the windpipe and into the upper right lung. Kokes said Chris Kelley bled to death. Drowning would have been, at most, a minimal contributor to death, Kokes said.
“By itself, this wound would likely be fatal,” Kokes said.
Kokes said the injuries, in different locations, were consistent with the men fighting.
“Interactions of this type tend to be imprecise and sloppy affairs,” Kokes said. “It’s not like an action movie with choreographed moves.”
Prosecutors have one remaining witness, Shawn Kelley, when the trial resumes before Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay at 9 a.m. today. The defense then will begin presenting its case. Holly faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted.