Offender Information

Name: Cargill, Kimberly
TDCJ Number: 999572
Date of Birth: 11/30/1966
Date Received: 06/07/2012
Age (when Received): 45
Education Level (Highest Grade Completed): 12
Date of Offense: 06/18/2010
Age (at the time of Offense): 43
County: Smith
Race: White
Gender: Female
Hair Color: Gray
Height: 5 ft 3 in
Weight: 145
Eye Color: Green
Native County: Jones
Native State: Mississippi

Prior Occupation
Office Clerk

Prior Prison Record
None

Summary of Incident

Subject did not want the victim to testify against her in a child protective case. Subject told the victim she would come and get her and hide her so she would not be required to testify because of the subpoena. Subject claims the victim had a seizure and quit breathing while they were driving. She drove her to a county road, doused the victim with lighter fluid and set her clothes on fire. Subject then left the scene.

Co-Defendants
None

Race and Gender of Victim
Black female

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Cargill Gets Death Sentence

By Dayna Worchel - TylerPaper.com

June 1, 2012

After a death sentence was handed down to convicted murderer Kimberly Diane Cargill on Thursday night, the victim's stepmother told Ms. Cargill that her stepdaughter had loved her.

“Ms. Cargill, Cherry loved you and she loved (your son),” Rueon Walker said during the victim impact statement. “She didn't deserve the horrible thing you did. You took her away from people that loved her.”

Smith County Judge Jack Skeen sentenced Ms. Cargill to death by lethal injection Thursday night after jurors returned a decision following nine hours of deliberation on punishment.

Ms. Cargill, a 45-year-old Whitehouse woman, was convicted May 18 of murdering Cherry Walker and setting her on fire in June 2010. She showed no reaction when the punishment was read but did tear up when Mrs. Walker read her victim impact statement.

“When I saw my baby in the morgue, her eyebrows singed. … You took away my memories of her,” Mrs. Walker told Ms. Cargill. “I couldn't give her a beautiful pink dress. All I had was a black body bag.”

“We don't hate you,” she told Ms. Cargill. “We only have love, pity and compassion for you. Jesus loves you, and he will forgive you.”

Mrs. Walker also said during her victim impact statement, “There are no winners, but there is justice. God gave her life, and it matters. Every life matters.”

When the defendant took the stand in her own defense during the guilt-innocence phase, she said Cherry Walker had a seizure in her car while the two were driving and that she panicked. She said she dumped the body on County Road 2191 and set it on fire.

Cherry Walker had received a subpoena to testify against Ms. Cargill in a child custody hearing before she was killed.

After the punishment phase concluded Thursday, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham thanked the jury for their weeks of service and for their verdict.

“We are so pleased that Cherry Walker has received justice and Kim Cargill will not hurt anyone anymore,” he said after the jury had been dismissed.

“It was truly an honor to have the opportunity to represent Cherry, her family and the community in this case,” he said.

Prosecutor April Sikes said she and her staff put in about 1,200 hours on the case, beginning on March 22. “It's been an emotional two years for me. I have become so emotionally attached to Cherry Walker and her family — she's so childlike,” Ms. Sikes said. The prosecutor added that in her opinion, Ms. Walker left a legacy of protection for Ms. Cargill's children.

“They are safe, now,” she said.

Defense attorneys left quickly after punishment was pronounced and could not immediately be reached for comment late Thursday.

In closing arguments to the jury earlier on Thursday, Bingham said while Ms. Cargill had a mental disorder, she did make the choice to kill the victim and set her body on fire.

He told jurors there were two questions they must answer when deciding punishment. He said they must decide whether Ms. Cargill presents a continuing threat to society and whether there were mitigating circumstances that would have caused her to commit the crime.

He told the jury that they must answer “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second. If the jury were to answer those questions in that manner, then Judge Jack Skeen Jr. would sentence her to death.

“Cherry Walker had a life, and it was hers and she was living it. The defendant took her life,” Bingham said.

He said although the defendant didn't choose the characteristics that define her personality disorder, she chose the conduct.

He added there was nothing mitigating about her behavior.

“She chose to do this,” Bingham said to the jury.

“If you could do that (choking and hitting) your children, who wouldn't you hurt?” Bingham asked the jury.

He added Ms. Cargill chose to take the stand during the guilt/innocence phase and lie to the jury.

Defense attorney Brett Harrison argued for his client to receive life without the possibility of parole and said she would do well in the structured environment provided by the jail. He said that someone who has a mental disorder such as the defendant's usually is not violent while they are in jail and pointed out that Ms. Cargill had not had any violent outbursts while being housed for the past two years in the Smith County Jail.

Although Harrison said he was not making excuses for Ms. Cargill, he said that “there was sufficient evidence to say her conduct is being driven by her disorder.”

Defense attorney Jeff Haas told the jury that regardless of what they choose, “the defendant is going away.” He told the jury that by convicting Ms. Cargill, “that justice had already been done.”

“Cherry Walker achieved justice on May 18 when Ms. Cargill was convicted. “She goes away for life and she is convicted. She told her mother, 'I hope you die a miserable old lady.' That's exactly what will happen to her — she will die a miserable old lady,'” Haas said.

Ms. Sikes told the jury in her closing statement that “evil was sitting right there, in a purple shirt,” as she pointed to Ms. Cargill. Ms. Sikes said there is no separate moral code for men and women.

“Cherry's life mattered to me … she stole Cherry Walker's chance to say goodbye,” Ms. Sikes said.

Cargill found guilty

The jury has found Kimberly Cargill guilty of capital murder in the death of her son's mentally-challenged babysitter.

Sentencing will take place at 9 a.m. Monday.

Bingham asks that the sentences be life without the possibility of parole OR the death penalty. He also asks that Cargill's bond be increased to $5 million. The judge complied with Bingham's request.

Closing arguments begin this morning in the case of an East Texas mother accused of killing her child's baby sitter.

Kimberly Cargill is charged with killing Cherry Walker, allegedly to keep her from testifying in Cargill's child custody case.

KLTV's Melanie Torre is in the courtroom and will have live updates throughout the day.

Closing Arguments in Kimberly Cargill trial

Before the jury is brought in, the term "obstruction" is removed from the charge. It previously said "obstruction and retaliation" now it just says "retaliation". The State says they'd like to remove "obstruction" as not to confuse the jury. The defense has no objections.

Judge grants 2 hour time limit per side for today's arguments. State says they'll need the two hours. Defense says they'll probably only need one.

The court plans to submit the case to the jury at noon. They will have lunch together and begin their deliberations at 1pm.

The judge reads the charge to the jury

The jury can find Cargill guilty of murder instead of capital murder if they choose.

State begins their argument. District attorney Matt Bingham begins by thanking the jury for their service on behalf of the district attorney's office and the Walker family. He goes on to explain the charge. He tells the jury they may only find Kimberly Cargill guilty on murder (instead of capital murder) if they believe Cherry was not subpoenaed and did not kill Cherry Walker as a result.

Bingham tells the jury Kimberly Cargill knowingly killed Cherry, dumped her body and set it on fire.

Bingham goes through key testimonies that he says show what happened that day and who Kimberly Cargill really is. He says the testimonies show Cargill is a lair, manipulative, selfish and controlling. He says the video from Whitehouse PD shows the real Cargill when no one is looking-- the real Cargill when she is not sitting in front of a jury. Bingham points at Cargill and asks the jury why Cargill wasn't making that scrunched up face like she was going to cry when she was at the Whitehouse Police department and Cherry Walker's burned body was laying on the side of a road like a bag of trash. Bingham calls Cargill a fruit bag and a kook. Bingham says Angela Hardin's testimony is one of the most damning because she was a friend of Cargill's who didn't want to testify to what Cargill had told her (See testimony day 2).

Bingham says every day the DA's office struggles with the fact that the subpoena they sent Cherry is what made Cargill spring into action.

Bingham says one of the things that bothers him the most is how Cargill just threw away Cherry's beloved coin purse, like another piece if trash, just like she did with Cherry's body. Bingham points at Cherry's father and says her father should at least get to keep that little coin purse but it's lying in trash somewhere. 

Bingham points to Cherry's father and tells the jury Mr. Walker had to call the Sheriff's office on Father's day 2010 asking if the burned body found on the side of the road was his daughter. Bingham says he can't imagine anything more difficult than that.

Bingham goes over Cargill's testimony, saying he can cut through her lies citing witness testimonies.

Bingham ends by telling the jury his office has grown to love Cherry and he says they're going to fight for her like she is their own daughter.

He tells the jury that Kim Cargill has had her day but not to forget about Cherry because today is Cherry's day.

Brett Harrison begins the defense's argument.

He tells the jury this case is not as simple as Mr. Bingham makes it sound. He says Cargill panicked when Cherry had a seizure in her car because she knew she would be a prime suspect of Cherry turned up dead. He says if Cargill is really as smart and manipulative as Bingham makes her sound she wouldn't have made it so obvious she was going to kill Cherry by advertising it through insistent calls to her and by calling the DAs office hours before the alleged murder.

Harrison goes over the doctor's testimonies telling the jury they said its "unlikely" Cherry had a seizure.  He says that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Harrison tells the jury Cargill climbed on the witness stand to tell her story even though she didn't have to because it didn't make sense. He says she knew the circumstances were so suspicious and looked so bad. He says she panicked because it looked so bad.

Harrison goes over the receipts that he says are evidence Cargill took Cherry to Posadas restaurant right. He asks the jury why she would have gotten cash out when she got gas at the Exxon if she was going to take Cherry back to her garage to murder her.

"Yes she dumped her body. She did set her on fire." Harrison says Cargill "made no bones about it." 

"As disgusting as what she did to Cherry Walker's body is, that doesn't equal homicide," Harrison said.

"Where's the proof? Where's the evidence that Kim Cargill killed Cherry Walker? Where is the proof? Where is the evidence to show you it was a homicide and not something else," Harrison asks the jury.

Harrison closes by asking the jury, "How sure do you have to be before you jump out of that plane?"

Jeff Haas begins the defense's closing argument. He tells the jury it is not their duty to prove Cargill is innocent. It is the State's duty to prove she is guilty.  Haas says if Cargill really was so cold and calculated she would have calculated something better than burning and dumping a body where it easily could be found.

Haas says he wants to caution the jury to be weary of any speculative situation the state may purpose in their last argument. He says to remember most of what the state says about Walker's mechanism of death is speculation and that you don't convict people on capital murder because of speculation.

Haas says Cargill was worried that it would look bad if Cherry testified against her, but he says Cargill was also worried that Cherry would look bad and not get to babysit anymore.

Haas asks the jury  if the State of Texas has proven Cargill killed Cherry Walker when they can't even prove how she died.

He tells the jury, "Your verdict is your verdict. Your opinion is your opinion and it's entitled to respect."

There's way too much on the table to get back in that jury room and cut corners.

April Sikes begins the state's final argument.
She starts her argument quickly, loudly and passionately. 

Over the course of an hour, Sikes tells the jury she has worked on this case for two years and put absolutely everything she has into it. She says she has done that out of love for Cherry.

Sikes passionately tells the jury all of the things she has learned about Cherry and everything she has grown to love about her. Many times throughout her closing argument, Sikes beings to cry.

She calls Cargill a murderer. She says she never ever said Cargill was smart.

Sikes spends about a half an hour reviewing testimonies and trying, one last time, to show the jury Cargill is lying.

Sikes says the jury is so lucky to have the opportunity to put a stop to Cargill's lies. She asks them to go back in the jury room and find her guilty of capital murder.

The jury is escorted to lunch. They will begin their deliberations at 1pm.

The trial of an East Texas woman accused of killing her mentally disabled babysitter continues in a Tyler courtroom. Wednesday is day nine of testimony in Kimberly Cargill's murder trial.

KLTV's Jena Johnson will have live updates from the courtroom throughout the day.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 8

Defense rests. Prosecution calls Dr. Richard Ulrich to the stand as their rebuttal witness.

Dr. Ulrich is a neurologist and says Cherry Walker was one of his patients.

He testified that Cherry did suffer from seizures, but they were not severe.

The state rests. Closing arguments in the case will begin Friday at 8:30 am., then the jury will receive the case and assess the charge.

The trial of an East Texas woman accused of killing her mentally disabled babysitter continues in a Tyler courtroom. Tuesday is day seven of testimony in Kimberly Cargill's murder trial.

Once again, KLTV's Melanie Torre will have live updates from the courtroom throughout the day.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 7

Jones is back on the stand at 8:30am being cross examined by the defense. The defense is asking her about her felony charges and asking her if she wants to go to prison. She says she does not. She's currently out on a PR bond. The defense asks her again if she has any deal with the DA's office regarding her testimony. She says no.

The defense starts going over Jones' testimony and comparing it to Jones' previous interviews with law enforcement and one 8 hour interview with the DA's office. The defense asks why Jones never said anything about Cargill wanting to take her babysitter out to eat until yesterday. She says she doesn't remember if she's told anyone else that but she says she knew they'd spoken about that.

State takes over witness again. They ask Jones again if yesterday was the first day she told anyone Cargill wanted to take her babysitter out to dinner. She says no it was not the first time because she'd told a detective about it and the assistant DA. The state pulls up transcriptions of these interviews from July 2010.

The state reviews what Jones testified to yesterday.. They talk about the phone call from Cargill to Jones on June 21 telling Jones that Cherry had been found dead and how Jones couldn't find the name Cherry in any news articles.

State: What reason are you testifying today and yesterday?

Jones: I was subpoenaed.

State: Are you in here telling some kind of lies because you think you might avoid prison?

Jones: I don't know what's going to happen to me.

State: Are you telling the truth

Jones: Yes ma'am

Defense takes over the witness. He asks Jones if she is aware the defense was trying to get in touch with her but her lawyer wouldn't let them. She says she was not aware. Defense asks why she told law enforcement that she'd learned Cherry was mentally challenged from reading the paper if she testified that she'd learned about Cherry's mental disability from Cargill. Jones says she learned Cargill had a mentally challenged babysitter from Cargill and that Cargill had two babysitters. She says she learned from the paper that Cherry Walker was the mentally challenged babysitter.

State announces their next witness will be Dr. Meredith Lann. State asks for a ten minute recess to organize exhibits.

10 minute recess

Dr. Meredith Lann is sworn in. She goes over her extensive education including degrees and fellowships at UT Austin, UTSA, Virginia, University of Colorado, etc. Lann conducted the autopsy on Cherry Walker and is now a medical examiner in Alaska. She explains to the jury what an autopsy is and what the purpose of an autopsy is. Lann explains a manner of death can be determined as 1 of 5 things: natural, accident, suicide, homicide or undetermined. She says mechanism of death is a physiologic abnormality that results in the death of a person.

Lann explains the protocol for receiving a body for autopsy-- from reviewing charts to external and internal examinations including organ details.

Lann conducted the autopsy of Cherry Walker on June 20, 2010. She says it was normal to review 10-15 cases a day. Lann says she picked up Walker's case out of interest.

"Being a very thorough person, I want to have as much information as possible, especially when there is a death that is homicidal in nature," Lann says.

State says Lann and the state went over photos taken during the autopsy. Lann says the very graphic photos have been removed because they were not appropriate or in her opinion of the most importance for the jury to see.

The defense reviews the photos Lann has chosen to show the jury and asks her if it is absolutely necessary for her to use the photos to explain what she needs to explain in her testimony. She says the photos are necessary.

The state goes over some of Cherry's medical records regarding seizures and tremors with Lann.

State asks Lann if the mechanism of death was unknown. Lann says that is correct and explains the lining that covered Walker's eyes showed small bleeds that would be components of asphyxiation, but because Cherry was found face down, those bleeds could also be a result of her body decomposing so asphyxiation can neither be ruled a cause or ruled out.

Lann says the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Lann says details from the crime scene are all taken into account during an autopsy

State goes over possible scenarios for how Cherry's body wound up like it did... He says maybe Cherry walked to Whitehouse and fell over dead before a random person set her on fire... Maybe she had a seizure in the car with someone who got scared, drove to a remote location and dumped the body and set it on fire even though they'd done nothing wrong... Defense objects to the state leading the witness.

State goes over photos from crime scene and photos taken during the autopsy. Lann says Walker had many abrasions on her face that were not consistent with dragging on gravel but maybe with being placed on gravel. Lann and the State discuss the possibility of a sheet being used to move the body. State shows Lann the photo of the sheet found in Cargill's washer days after the alleged murder... Lann says the sheet is a possible mode of transporting the body but she can't be sure.

The state goes over a series of photos taken when Walker's body came in for autopsy. Lann explains the purpose of each photo.

As the photos, which are still fairly graphic, are put on display for the courtroom, Cargill continues to stare at the table in front if her, rarely lifting her head or moving.

Lann says she doesn't think Walker was breathing at the time of the burning because there was no soot in her airways.

Lann says Walker did have seizure medication in her system when the autopsy was conducted.

Lann says she is very confident in her determinations that Walker died as a result of homicidal violence at the hands of another but the means of death is undetermined. She says she is confident that Walker did not die from a seizure.

Lann says Walker had bruising on her arms and leg in places that wouldn't have had contact with the ground.

Pass the witness.

Lann goes over all of the bruises she found on Walker's body. When she mentions a bruise on the chest, the defense asks if that bruise could be consistent with someone performing CPR on Walker. Lann says yes.

Defense asks if Walker's bruises are consistent with defensive wounds. Lann says no.

Lann says she took extra time to look for needle holes on Walker's body because she knew the suspect was an LVN. She says she found none nor did the toxicology report show evidence of abnormal medications in her system.

Lann says she cannot be sure if Walker was dead or in the process of dying when she received the thermal (burns) injuries.

Defense asks Lann if there were bruises around the neck or evidence of the trachea being crushed. She says there were not.

Lann says as far as the mechanism of death she just doesn't know.

Defense asks if it's possible for someone to die of seizure. Lann says yes and explains how that determination can be made.

Defense goes over Walker's medical history with Lann and asks if seizures fall within her realm of expertise. She says she knows about seizures.

Defense asks if a bitten tongue and a bruise in the mouth could be evidence someone had a seizure. She says they could be signs of seizure. Defense asks if Walker had a bruise on the inside of her mouth. Lann says Walker may have had a light bruise in her mouth but that wasn't determined for certain.

Defense asks Lann what her cause of death findings would have been if Walker was found dead in her apartment without burns on her body. Lann says she can't say.

Defense asks Lann if she is a crime scene re constructionist. She says she is not.

Defense asks what was in Walker's stomach. Lann says there was food, a pill and dark brown liquid in her stomach. Lann says she looked up the inscription on the pill and found it to be an anti-inflammatory.

Pass the witness.

State addresses the defenses mention of CPR. Lann says she cannot say if someone tried CPR. Lann is asked if the bruises on Walker's chest could have been a result of someone applying pressure to her chest as they were killing her. Lann says its possible.

Defense tries giving the doctor a hypothetical situation again where Walker is found in the apartment without being burned, and asks Lann if then she could not have ruled out seizure. Lann says under those circumstances, she could find an undetermined cause of death.

Lann maintains that she does not believe Walker died of a seizure. 

State goes over everything Lann took into account with her findings. Lann says in her determination of homicidal violence, other than the findings found during the actual autopsy, she considered that Walker was:

-mentally challenged

-away from her home

-found in a remote locations

-had no identifying info on her

-was burned by someone else

-found by a passerby 

Recess until 1pm

State rests. Defense to begin at 9 am tomorrow.

The trial of an East Texas woman accused of killing her mentally disabled babysitter continues in a Tyler courtroom. Monday is day Six of testimony in Kimberly Cargill's murder trial.

Once again, KLTV's Melanie Torre will have live updates from the courtroom throughout the day.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 6

Cherry Walker's step-mom, Rueon Walker, takes the stand. Mrs. Walker is fighting back tears.

The prosecution and defense ask questions about Cherry's friends. Mrs. Walker says most of Cherry's "friends" were caretakers, bus drivers, people who were given the responsibility to look after her.

Both the state and defense ask a series of questions about a boy named Joseph. Joseph was a friend of Cherry's but Mrs. Walker maintains that they were never intimate. She says she'd spoken to Joseph about that and he knew not to hurt Cherry by becoming intimate with her. Joseph often sang at church and was one of Walker's few friends.

Mrs. Walker is emotional and an attorney apologizes for having a few more questions to ask. Mrs. Walker replies, "It's ok. That was my baby."

She says Cherry was independent when it came to meeting people and making friends. She says if Cherry had many friends, Mrs. Walker wouldn't have known who they were. Though, she says Cherry told her a lot of things and she doesn't remember her talking about other people besides Joseph, Marcy (apartment complex neighbor), Paula and the children Cherry would babysit.

15 minute recess

State calls Joseph Mayo. Mayo says he's 35 years old and he is a singer. He says he likes to sing at Coretta's, Club 155 and tried out for American Idol.

State shows Joseph a series of photos he all identifies as Cherry. He says he met her in 1997 when they were both working at Goodwill OIT. OIT is Opportunities In Tyler for people with disabilities. He says he was very close with Cherry and he loved her. He says they'd go out to eat Mexican often and they'd go to the movies. He says he'd play his guitar and sing for people at Cherry's church. Joseph says he'd see her at work and talk to her on the phone planning dates. Joseph starts talking about when he and Cherry went to see Paranormal Activity. He says she loved that movie and Saw. He goes on and on about different parts of the movie and how scared he was. He says he borrowed Paranormal Activity from Cherry for about a month and Cherry got irritated he had the movie for so long.

Joseph took her the movie back and showed her his new car. In June 2010 Joseph says he lived with Chuck. Chuck has a girlfriend named Christie.

State asks Joseph about June 18 when he was singing at Coretta's. He says earlier that day his friend Michael came into town and met at his apartment around 3pm. He says everyone was waiting for Chuck to get off work from Walmart on Troup Highway around 9pm. Then, in two separate cars they went to Coretta's.

State: You were going to do some karaoke?

Joseph: I resent that. I was going to sing.

State goes over the timeline of Joseph's June 18th, filling any gaps. The state is showing the jury Joseph was always with Michael or Christie.

Joseph talks about how clean Cherry's apartment was and how she believed in him and his singing career.

Joseph says the police questioned him after Cherry was found. He says he gave the police his car and phone to search and they kept it for about a week. Joseph says he was very irritated that the police didn't even wash his car when they returned it because they'd left fingerprints all over the glass and the paint.

State passes the witness

Joseph says he and Cherry casually dated. He said she'd come see him and hear him sing at Coretta's and Cancun. Joseph says he did kiss Cherry but they were never intimate because he respected her and new he needed to take things slow.

Joseph asks if the court would like to hear him sing. The defense declines. Joseph tells Cargill's attorneys they don't know what they're missing.

Joseph says Cherry didn't go out with them much because of Joseph's grandmother. Joseph says his grandmother didn't like him hanging out with Cherry because... Joseph hesitates and gets uncomfortable. The state asks if it was because Cherry was black. Joseph says yes and immediately starts apologizing to everyone in the courtroom on behalf of his grandmother. He says we live in a diverse world and everyone would should get along.

Joseph tells the jury about when he first met Cherry's parents. He says Cherry's dad didn't like him at first because he didn't know him. He starts laughing and talking about the first time he took Cherry out. Joseph says Cherry's dad told him Cherry better be home on time because he had a shotgun. Joseph is laughing and laughing and talking about how Cherry's dad put the fear of God in him that night and he never had Cherry home late once.

State calls Christie Lambert. 

Lambert is Chuck's girlfriend. She says she met Cherry Walker once. Lambert says she knows Joseph. Lambert says she works at ADI folding sheets. Lambert says she remembers going to Coretta's with Chuck and Joseph on June 18, 2010. Lambert does not drive and never has. Lambert says after Chuck got off work at Walmart he came home and changed clothes. Then, they went to Coretta's. Lambert says she rode in Chuck's car and Joseph and Michael drove behind them. After Coretta's they went home at about 11:55pm.  Lambert says she and Chuck live together now and are able to live alone without caregivers. Lambert says Joseph and Michael went to Walmart on the way to Coretta's to get Michael a cell phone. She says Michael and Joseph were only away from her for about 15 minutes that night.

State calls Chuck Hay. Chuck says he works at Walmart. He says he knew Cherry when he was working at Goodwill. State asks Chuck about June 18. He says he was at Coretta's singing karaoke. Chuck says that day he worked 5-9. He says he got off work at 9, went home and changed, then went to Coretta's. Chuck says he thinks Christie rode with Michael and Joseph to Coretta's. Chuck says he didn't know if Michael and Joseph stopped at Walmart.

Pass the witness

Chuck tells the jury on Saturday June 19 he talked to detectives about what he did Friday night. Defense asks Chuck if he actually got off at 10pm. Chuck says he got off at 9pm. Defense asks Chuck if he told investigators he got off at 10pm. Chuck says he got off at 9pm. Defense asks Chuck if he might have told someone something otherwise. Chuck says he told the investigators he got off at 9pm.

State shows Chuck a still image from surveillance video. Chuck identifies it as a photo of him walking into Coretta's. The time stamp on the photo is 9:41pm on June 18, 2010.

State calls Marcy Fulton. Fulton says she lives in an assisted living residence. Marcy says she knows Kimberly Cargill. Marcy says she used to babysit the same son that Cherry Walker babysat. Marcy says she used to take Cherry to buy movies, groceries and out to eat. Marcy says Cherry was very bothered by how messy Marcy's house and truck were. Marcy says the doctor told her she couldn't babysit anymore so she introduced Cherry to Cargill so Cherry could watch Cargill's son.

Marcy says she can't remember if she saw Cherry on June 18. She says she remembered talking to Cherry on June 18 because she was very upset about getting a piece of paper. Marcy says she never got a piece of paper (a subpoena). She says Cargill called to see if she got a subpoena and told her to get out of town or go to Cargill's house. But, Marcy says she didn't go. Marcy says Cherry asked Marcy if she was going to lie for Kim and Marcy said she told Cherry she wouldn't lie for her so Cherry said she wouldn't lie either.

Marcy says she remembers Cherry saying Kim wanted to take her out to dinner. Marcy says she doesn't remember talking to Cargill that much after June 18.

Marcy says Kim's car was tremendously messy. Marcy says there were a lot of fast food items in Kim's floorboard and she never saw the car clean.

Defense has no questions for Marcy.

Recess until 1pm due to witness scheduling issues.

State calls Suzanne Jones Davis. Davis has been arrested and charged for tampering with evidence. Her charges are related to Kimberly Cargill's case. Davis has not yet been indicted and has no deal or agreement with the DA's office regarding her testimony today. Davis' attorney is in the courtroom today.

Davis met Cargill in Richardson growing up. She says they were friends in 8th grade but grew apart. She says she got back in touch with Cargill through classmates.com planning a reunion. On February 7, 2010 they went to a reunion happy hour and Cargill stayed the night at Davis'. Davis says Cargill told her she had 3 kids, but later learned she actually had 4.

Davis tells the jury in June 2010 she received a desperate voicemail from Cargill saying her life was in the worst place it's ever been and that she really needed a friend.

Defense asks Davis how she remembers so much about what she did in June and July of 2010. She says she went over phone records, etc. with the DA's office. Defense begins going over a calendar Davis has created. The calendar is admitted into evidence.

Davis says it was several days before she got in touch with  Kim. In the first few weeks of June they spoke frequently on the phone and began emailing. Davis says Cargill told her about the problems she was having with custody of her children.

State goes over the calendar Davis provided of their June phone conversations. She says they spoke for a few hours a week. Davis says she had never spoken to Cargill this much prior to June 2010.

Defense begins going over email with Davis. That email is submitted into evidence. There are a series of emails from the week and days before Cargill's custody hearing is set to happen. Cargill is asking Davis to write a letter on her behalf talking about what a great mother she is, how the kids always come before money and education and how awful Cargill's mother is. Davis says she didn't have any first hand knowledge of the things Kim was asking her to say in the letter but she wrote a long detailed letter for Kim based solely on things Kim had told her. The state goes over every sentence of a letter Davis wrote for Kim having Davis admit that she had no knowledge of any of the things she wrote about. Davis says she was just trying to help an old friend the only way age knew how.

Davis says eventually Kim asked her to come to the hearing but Davis said she couldn't go unless she was subpoenaed because she didn't have any vacation to take. Davis says she received a subpoena a few days later.

Davis says she tried calling Cargill on the evening of June 18th, but Cargill didn't answer. Phone records show Cargill was already on the phone with Cherry Walker when Davis tried calling Cargill. 

On the morning of June 19, Davis spoke again to Cargill. Cargill told Davis she was going to run errands, wash her car and go to the grocery store. Davis says Cargill told her she couldn't get ahold of her babysitter.

According to phone records Cargill and Davis spoke again later. Davis says Cargill told her two babysitters had been subpoenaed. Davis says Cargill told her one baby sitter was older and the other was younger. Davis says Cargill was concerned about the "younger babysitter" because that babysitter had her child taken away. Davis says Cargill told her she was going to call her son's dad and see of he'd seen Cherry Walker. Davis said that seemed odd because he was the same man Cargill was in a custody battle with and the child's father didn't even know who Cherry was or that they lived in the same apartment complex.

State starts going over phone records with Davis from Monday, June 21st. Davis says Cargill didn't normally call her at work. She says Cargill asked Davis if she had seen the Tyler news over the weekend. Davis says she hadn't seen the news but could tell Cargill was agitated.

Davis says Cargill told her, "They found my babysitter, Cherry, dead on Saturday." Davis says she tried to find the news articles about Cherry being dead but couldn't actually find any news articles that named the body, so she thought it was a little odd that Cargill knew for sure it was her babysitter.

Davis says she later got a call from

Cargill from an unfamiliar 2-1-4 number.

Davis says she received a cryptic email from Cargill on June 23. The email is put on a monitor for everyone to read. It says "they" took her phone, purse, house, car and everything. She says the worst may have happened and that if Davis doesn't hear from her soon, she should call Cargill's attorney.

Davis says she received calls from jail from Cargill. She says Cargill wanted Davis to go to her house in Whitehouse and get some things out of it. Those things were mainly momentos, photos, and things given to her by her children. Davis says she went to Cargill's house and got these things. She says Cargill also asked her to change her passwords for email, Facebook, bank records, nursing licensing and attorney general child support information. Davis says Cargill asked her to change these things on a Wednesday but she waited until Saturday to change them. Davis was later arrested for tampering with evidence. Davis says everything she has provided the prosecutors she has provided out of her own cooperation and has been telling the truth all along.  

15 minute recess

State calls John Barry Crumpton. Crumpton was the foreman of the grand jury who indicted Kimberly Cargill. He now works for USPS in Dallas. He says the grand jury could not determine a cause of death precisely but heard evidence that lead them to believe Walker was asphyxiated, had an impeded blood flow and died as a result of homicidal violence. The state asks Crumpton about each aspect of the indictment and Crumpton testifies to it.

State passes the witness, whom the defense has no questions for.

Judge says cross examination of Davis (witness before Crumpton was called out of order) will take place Tuesday morning. The state plans to rest its case tomorrow and pass the case off to the defense at 8:30 a.m. Wenesday.

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - TYLER, TX (KLTV) - The trial of an East Texas woman accused of killing her mentally disabled babysitter continues in a Tyler courtroom. Today is day five of testimony in Kimberly Cargill's murder trial.

Once again, KLTV's Melanie Torre will have live updates from the courtroom throughout the day.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 5

Before the jury is brought in, the defense and prosecution question two detectives about who was instructed to set up on Cargill's home until the search warrant was executed.

Defense: Who instructed a Smith County deputy to be in the area of Mrs. Cargill's house ready to make a traffic stop?

Detective: I don't know

Detective says two deputies went to Cargill's home to ask for consent to search before they got the search warrant.

Defense goes back to the traffic stop. "That's a coordinated effort." Cargill left her house one evening after the alleged murder and was stopped by a deputy for rolling through a stop sign. According to attorneys, Cargill's car, cell phone and purse were detained during the traffic stop. Cargill was issued a warning and told she could leave but couldn't take her belongings. Defense continues to ask the detective if anyone was working on issuing a search warrant at the time Cargill was pulled over.

The defense has filed a motion to suppress.

The state argues that there is no evidence any law enforcement official searched Cargill's vehicle without a warrant. And the state argues, under the automobile clause, the officer who stopped her had probable cause to search the vehicle without a warrant but still didn't. The state says law enforcement was being proactive because they didn't know if Cargill had loaded her car up with evidence and was headed out to destroy it when they stopped her.

Court determines the traffic stop, detention of the vehicle and its contents as well the search of the vehicle were all lawful. Judge Skeen denies the defense's motion to suppress evidence collected from the vehicle.

Noel Martin is brought back to the stand to talk about the search of Cargill's vehicle. He says when searching a vehicle everything is photographed numbered and very carefully documented. Martin says when he first saw the vehicle at the impound lot, there were no signs that the integrity of the vehicle has been compromised.

Martin says inside the car he found a single black hair on the passenger's seat headrest.

State and Martin draw a head rest and point out where the hair was located. The state shows the jury a large blown up photo of the hair.

State shows the jury blown up photos  of the inside of Cargill's car. There are about 3 different fast food bags and cups, some trash and her purse sitting in the passenger seat.

State says they want to go back to some photos taken from inside the residence of Cargill.

Martin says he noticed most of the door handles to the rooms were broken.

State shows the jury photos from Kimberly Cargill's bathroom. There is a Chick Fil A cup on the bathroom counter. State asks Martin if the straw wrapper found by Walker's body was a Chick Fil A straw wrapper. He says it was.

State and Martin begin unsealing evidence that was collected from Cargill's vehicle.

State asks Martin to unseal a swab taken from the driver's side back passenger door handle.

State continues to go over evidence taken from the vehicle.

State calls next witness. Huma Nasir takes the stand. Nasir works in a private accredited DNA forensics laboratory. She explains what she does at the lab and the precautions they take to make sure new DNA is never introduced to an item.

Nasir says because she works with a private lab they often do not know the facts of the case because they are not working directly with law enforcement. She says her lab is brought evidence and told what type of testing to conduct and that's often extent of the information given.

15 minute break

Nasir begins to talk about comparing DNA profiles to decide if certain DNA came from a certain person or did not come from a certain person. In criminal cases this helps include or exclude suspects and victims.

Nasir says in their testing, they could not exclude Cargill.

State has Nasir draw a diagram depicting where DNA is found within cells. Nasir explains that mitochondrial DNA testing was used in Walker's case. She explains this testing is used on hairs that don't have a root because the nucleus of a hair is located in the root. She also explains the mitochondria can be easier to test because there are multiple mitochondria within a cell but there's only one nucleus. She says the downside to this type of testing is that you can't identify someone individually because mitochondrial DNA is shared among the maternal lineage so people on the maternal side will have the same mitochondrial DNA.

State begins going over items in evidence with Nasir.

Nasir explains the screening process to determine if there is any DNA to be tested.

The coffee creamer found at the crime scene was submitted for skin cell testing to see who had touched it.

Nasir says its possible to get multiple results of multiple people touching a object because every time someone touches an object they deposit some skin cells there.

Nasir was able to obtain a partial profile from the dairy fresh creamer at the crime scene but it wasn't enough DNA to tell much. So, Nasir says she did a more specific test called a mini SDR test. With that test she was able to get a profile of two people. She says Kim Cargill could not be excluded as a contributor. State implies the other profile likely came from the person at Burger King who handed the creamer to Cargill. Nasir says neither of the two profiles on the creamer were more present than the other.

Nasir says they do a series of calculations from the journal of forensic science to see what the likelihood someone other than Kim Cargill could also not be excluded from touching the creamer. He explains how forensic science comes up with statistics like these.

Nasir said the calculations showed that 1 in 226,000 people could have a DNA profile that matched the DNA on the creamer and Cargill couldn't be excluded as the 1. State says there are less than 226,000 people in Smith County. State asks if Nasir's statistics take into account the fact that Cargill new the victim who was laying dead where the creamer was found. Nasir says no. State asks Nasir's statistics take into account the fact that Cargill had called the victim the night she went missing and told her she was coming over to pick her up. Nasir says no.

Defense passes the witness.

Defense asks Nasir if the results should stand alone. She says they should and they do. She says her conclusions are based on her testing and her testing only.

Recess for lunch

The state calls the next witness, Romy Franco, a colleague of Nasir's. Franco has a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M and a Master's degree from The University of North Texas.

Franco performed tests on evidence collected in this case. She begins explaining the protocol for running mitochondrial DNA testing on a hair with no root. Franco was given a blood card with Walker's DNA on it. Franco says she ran mitochondrial DNA testing on that blood card, too.

Franco says, according to testing, Cherry Walker couldn't be excluded as the owner of the hair found in Cargill's car. Franco says they found that hair could have belonged to 8 in 1305 individuals. Franco says Walker's mitochondrial DNA couldn't have been a better match to the mitochondrial DNA found in Cargill's car.

Defense asks Franco some of the same questions asked of Nasir-- if the tests are meant to stand alone. Franco says they stand alone as far as she is concerned.

Witness dismissed. State recalls Nasir.

Nasir discusses statistics regarding the hair found in Cargill's car. She says 98% of black people are excluded from being the owner of the hair found in Cargill's car. Nasir says they are told to be more conservative in their conclusions-- in other words, they're told to give leeway toward the defendant in a criminal trial.

State calls Smith County Deputy Theresa Smith. Smith has worked for Smith County for six years, patrolling for two years.

On June 22, 2010 Smith stopped Cargill for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. She says at the time of the stop she did know Cargill was a suspect in a capital murder case. Smith said she had been instructed to follow Cargill but Smith couldn't stop her until she made some kind of violation.

Pass the witness

Defense says, "You told Mr. Bingham you were following Mrs. Cargill but that's not accurate, is it?"

Smith says she was parked away from the stop sign when she saw Cargill. Smith says she was instructed to follow Cargill until she could stop her. Defense asks about dash camera video of the stop. Smith says there is none because her system was broken. Smith says she was instructed to give Cargill a ride home. While they were in the car Cargill got on her cell phone. Smith says she was instructed to take Cargill's phone. Cargill was speaking to her attorney, Brett Harrison, when Smith took Cargill's phone away.

Witness passed back  to the State.

State calls next witness detective Jeremy Black. Detective Black says he has worked for Smith County for 12 years. 

Detective Black says he was instructed to sit in front of Cargill's house to watch for anyone who was coming or going. He says he knew warrants were being worked on but he didn't know if they were for the car, house or both. Black says he saw Cargill leaving her house. She pulled up to the vehicle detective Black was in and asked if he was looking for someone or if she needed to call her lawyer. After she drove off deputy Smith pulled Cargill over at the stop sign. Detective Black says he stayed with the vehicle waiting for the warrants. Black says after a short time Lt. Tony Dana relived him at the scene of the car.

State passes the witness

Defense asks if the detectives all arrived at Cargill's residence together. Black days they did not. 

Defense: Did you see Mrs Cargill leave her residence in her vehicle?

Defense asks how long after the detectives knocked on Cargill's door she left her residence. He says about two hours.

Detective Black goes over what happened at the traffic stop.

Defense asks if he was aware of any search warrants being drawn up for the vehicle or the house. He said he wasn't sure.

Lt. Tony Dana takes the stand and talks about going to relieve Detective Black and guard the car until it could be taken into evidence.

State calls next witness Ryan Smith. Smith worked for the city of Whitehouse answering calls for police, water, utility and animal control.

Smith says he met Cargill through a number of CPS calls. The defense objects to this question/answer and the jury is told to disregard that.

Smith says on 6/19/10 Cargill came into office asking about a lost dog. He says this was their first conversation about a missing animal.

State plays a video for the jury of Cargill in the police station asking about her missing dog. The dog, Oreo, had been missing for about two months. While at the station Cargill asks Smith if they've been slow that day. He says the statement didn't stand out to him at the time, but now knowing just hours later a body would turn up and Cargill would be considered a suspect, it does seem more significant.

Defense has no questions for Smith.

State calls Forrest Garner to the witness stand.  Garner was married to Cargill in 2005 for less than a year.

Garner and Cargill had one son, the son Cherry Walker babysat. Garner and Walker lived in the same apartment complex but he had no idea who Walker was.

Garner goes over some of the dealings with CPS regarding Kimberly and their son.

James Cargill, Kim's former husband, takes the stand. He says he was married to Cargill June 1993-December 1995.

Mr. Cargill and the state go over Cargill's phone records showing her attempts at calling him on June 18.

Mr. Cargill says they are not friends.

Kim Cargill attempted calling Mr. Cargill about 10 times all throughout the day but he says he never spoke with her. He says he did not want to answer those calls and for her to call that much is not abnormal. The state starts going over text messages from Kimberly Cargill. Her texts ask him to call her but he did not call her.

Mr. Cargill says she called him wanting to know if he'd been subpoenaed for the CPS hearing. Mr. Cargill found the call strange because he hardly ever talked to her.

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - The trial of an East Texas woman accused of killing her mentally disabled babysitter continues in a Tyler courtroom. Today is day four of testimony in Kimberly Cargill's murder trial.

Once again, KLTV's Melanie Torre will have live updates from the courtroom throughout the day.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 4

State calls first witness Dr. Foy Hamons. Hamons is a dentist in Whitehouse. Hamons was Cherry's dentist starting in June 2009. He saw her three times and says she usually had someone with her at the dentist office. He says Cherry was pleasant, easy going and easy to work on.

Hamons brought Cherry's dental records and briefly goes over them with the state.

Pass the witness.

Defense begins asking Hamons about Cherry's medications listed on the records. Hamons says she was epileptic and on medicine for seizures.

Defense asks Hamons if he knew if Cherry was taking her medication. Hamons says he relies on the patient's word when it comes to if they're taking their medicine.

State calls next witness Dr. Robert Williams.

Williams says he is a private practice dentist and is a board certified forensic dentist from Dallas. He says a forensic dentist mostly uses dental records to identify people when their faces and fingerprints are unidentifiable. Williams graduated from Baylor college of dentistry in 1977. He practiced dentistry for 10 years. He later became a police officer, attended a forensic course and became board certified in 1996.

Williams was called to ID Walker's remains on 6/23/10. Williams says he received Walker's records from Dr. Hamons. Williams explains his process of identifying someone through dental records.. Taking x-rays, scans, etc.

Williams has a PowerPoint presentation on disc. Defense and State take a few minutes to load the disc into a computer to view it.

After about 15 minutes, Dr. Williams' PowerPoint is up and running on a monitor in the courtroom. His PowerPoint has images of Cherry Walker's dental x-rays. Williams goes page by page explaining how he identified Walker. One of her teeth was missing, she had a retained baby tooth and she had fillings in particular teeth. He goes over the form of her teeth, as well as the spacing.

State calls next witness Patricia McAnnally. McAnnally is a nurse who flew in from Florida. She talks about her management position and everything she does on a normal day from releasing bodies to funeral homes to addressing patient complaints.

McAnnally used to work at ETMC as a supervisor and it's there she met Cargill. McAnnally and the state go over documents that McAnnally would have overseen like time slips, etc.

McAnnally goes over what LVNs, like Cargill, are allowed to do. The state and McAnnally begin to write a  list of what a typical LVN's day would be like. The Sate and McAnnally go hour by hour writing out everything Kimberly Cargill should have been doing on June 18. "There's not a lot of downtime for a nurse," McAnnally says.

15 minute recess

State begins to go over Cargill's June 18 phone records with McAnnally. State tells McAnnally these are voice calls. McAnnally tells the jury that according to the policy at the time, nurses were not allowed to make personal calls while working.

McAnnally: They're not supposed to be on their cell phone while they're on duty.

As the state goes over the time of every single call or text, they ask McAnnally what work-related task Cargill should have been doing at that time. About a quarter of the way through the defense asks if they can consult at the judge's bench.

State goes back to the phone records, calling each time out.

State tells McAnnally there were 78 calls and/or texts. The state asks if an LVN using their phone that much while on the job would surprise her. McAnnally says on that day, June 18, she had to call Cargill in to the office because patients were complaining they weren't getting their meds. McAnnally says Cargill told her she was giving good care to her patients and would never not take care of them.

State begins going over Cargill's access pass log. This log shows every time Cargill went into a locked room or laboratory. The log shows Cargill checking into the break room frequently. Every 10 minutes or less around 10:45 am-1pm. She also checks into a utility room frequently at some times that correspond with her phone logs. 

State: Do nurses carry medicine in their pockets?

McAnnally: Sometimes, but they're not supposed to.

State: Can a nurse just go in there and say, I have a headache, I'm just going to go in [the med room] and take one blister pack out.

McAnally: No 

State: That'd be real bad wouldn't it?

McAnally: Yes.

Pass the witness.

McAnnally tells the defense she remembers calling Cargill in after a patient complaint. She says Cargill was upset and cried in her office.

Defense: All of these entries into the break room doesn't necessarily mean someone was taking a break... Couldn't they have been looking for someone?

McAnally: yes

Defense asks if an inventory of medication showed Cargill improperly taking anything on June 18. McAnally says she didn't check the records herself but wasn't aware of any.

State: She's not checking to confer with another nurse if she's on a phone call, is she?

McAnally: No.

State goes over break room entries again compared to phone records.

Recess for lunch

After lunch there will be testimony from a USAA bank records custodian and more crime scene witnesses.

State calls next witness, Diane Mathis, a records custodian from San Antonio for USAA bank.

State shows Mathis a copy of Cargill's bank records. She days the records show a $35 purchase was made on June 18, 2012 at 9:16pm.

Pass the witness.

Defense has no questions for Mathis. 

The witness is excused.

State calls next witness, Noel Martin. Detective Martin has been working for the Smith County Sheriff's Department since the mid 90s.  Martin says most of his training has been in blood stain analysis, processing evidence for forensic testing, shooting reconstruction, crime scene reconstruction, fingerprint matching and identifying. Martin says he has participated in so many death investigations he can't even number them all. He says he's often working at least 5-7 homicides at once. He says he has assisted most surrounding counties, the Texas Rangers in Dallas and the FBI in investigating deaths.

Martin says on June 19 he received a call that he needed to respond to a rural road where a dead body had been located.

State puts a large map on display. On the map it shows where Cargill was pulled over by Chandler PD, where Cherry Walker lives, where Kimberly Cargill lives and where Cherry's body was found.

Martin explains to the jury the normal protocol when responding to a crime scene.

Brent Davis (Texas Ranger who testified yesterday) runs the 360 degree camera again while Martin explains what she saw and did that day.

Martin explains how the sand wasn't conducive for holding tire tracks and that it would be possible for a car to come in and out of the area where the body was found without leaving tracks. Martin also says it appeared to be an area that wasn't private and traveled moderately.

Martin begins to talk about some of the evidence located around Cherry's body included a fast food straw wrapper and a dairy fresh creamer package.

Martin says the placement of those items indicated to him that the body had been transported to that location by a vehicle and that those items came out of the car when the body was dumped out.

Martin says the body positioning indicated that the body had been dumped there because the shoes were very clean, with the exception of the toes which were pointed downward and into the dirt.

Martin talks about the observations about the blood in the body and the body temperature. He says the body was warm, but only from being in the sun all day. He says the blood had settled in a way that indicated the body had been there for hours.

Martin says Cherry didn't have a single item with or on her that aided in her identification.

Martin says they did not roll the victim over until it was almost getting dark. He says the most significant things to him were the burns to her body and that there were no gunshot, stab or other wounds that may have indicated how Cherry died.

Martin says nobody touched anything without his approval. He says they did a search of the area looking for other items that might have been related to the scene.

State asks the court's permission to begin unsealing evidence. The first envelope opened contains the dairy fresh creamer package found lying between Cherry's legs at the crime scene.

The evidence envelope contains the DNA swab taken from Kim Cargill. He says this sample was taken with consent. The other piece of evidence present in the courtroom is the straw wrapper collected by Martin at the scene.

Martin says he searched Cargill's residence on June 23. Martin begins describing Cargill's brick, single family house. Martin says there were a number of other law enforcement agents with him who were instructed not to move or touch anything without Martin's permission.

State asks for 15 minutes to organize poster boards containing photos of evidence.

State puts on display photos of Kimberly Cargill's master bedroom. It's very messy with fast food trash and half eaten tater tots and pieces of bread buns scattered on the carpet.

Martin says on the floor in the master bedroom and in the master bathroom, investigators found dairy fresh creamers that were the exact same brand as the one found between the legs of Cherry walker at the crime scene. Martin says the seal to a milk carton was found in a potted plant and the bathtub contained nine opened dairy fresh creamer containers and used feminine products.

Martin says the majority of the house was cluttered and unorganized. State puts photos of the laundry room on display. Martin says there was one wet sheet in the washer and that seemed suspicious to him because it was the only thing in the washer when there were other dirty clothes items in the laundry room that could have been washed with the sheet.

Martin says in the dryer there was an empty single pill blister packet. He says it appeared to him the pill had been removed and then the pack was washed as dried in the clothes.

Martin says he later opened the sheet and found a red sipping straw and two green pieces of plastic inside it.

Martin opens another piece of evidence. They are van tennis shoes with sand on the bottom of them. He says the sand on the shoes is similar to the sand found at the crime scene.

Martin says in Cargill's trash were burned pieces of paper. He says he found this significant because he was investigating a death where fire was involved.

State passes the witness.

Defense asks about Van shoes with sand on them. Defense asks if the shoes were sent for further testing. Martin says they were not.

Defense asks about the sheet in the washing machine. 

Defense: Was that actually a table cloth?

Martin: I don't know, Mr. Harrison. It looked like a sheet to me. It was a long piece of linen.

Defense removes the sheet/table cloth out of the evidence bag completely so the jury can see. The state did not remove the "sheet" for the jury when they were talking about it, but instead kept it in the evidence bag. Martin says it could be a sheet or a table cloth.

Defense continues to ask about the creamers found in the bathroom, asking over and over if they were found in the bathtub or the trash. Martin says they were found in both.

Defense asks if Cherry's shoes were really very clean.

Martin says they weren't fresh out of the store clean but they were very clean with no noticeable markings except for on the toes.

Defense asks if there was finger printing done on the creamer found by Cherry's body. Martin says there was not finger printing for a particular reason. He says there was other testing done on the creamer.

Martin says he bagged Cherry's hands so they could do testing under Cherry's fingernails for skin cells. Martin days he does not know if testing was done on Cherry's fingernails. 

Defense begins to go over the pills in the blister pack. Martin confirms there were 21 tablets. Defense asks Martin if he seized a pair of white tennis shoes from Cargill's master bedroom. He says he did.

Defense attorneys ask for a moment to consult each other and the state.

State shows the jury a photo of Cargill's kitchen table that had a number of items on it. Martin says this was the only table in the house and it looks like the things on it had been there a while. State asks if there's some rule that says you can only move a dead body with a sheet and not a table cloth.. Martin says no.

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - Testimony resumed this morning in the trial of an East Texas mother accused of killing her baby sitter.

45-year old Kimberly Cargill is accused of murdering her baby sitter to keep her from testifying against her in a child custody hearing.

Kimberly Cargill Trial Day 2

Before the jury is brought in Kimberly Cargill submits paperwork (Sate's exhibit #72) saying she is the sole user of the Verizon number 903-570-2880, even though the billing name is Jill Low and user is listed at Kimberly Low. She says the red Samsung phone the state has in their possession is hers and only hers and has never been used by anyone else. This clears up any doubt or confusion that the phone records presented yesterday were not hers.

The jury is brought in and this exhibit is read to the jury.

State calls in first witness of the day, Laura Gillispie, who now works in Longview. Gillispie was an ETMC clinic manager in Whitehouse. Gillispie met Cargill through Cargill's son being brought in to the clinic. Gillispie says she had more than one conversation with Cargill that stands out in her mind.

Gillispie tells the jury about Cargill's calls to the clinic regarding her son who has been removed from Cargill's home. Gillispie says they were instructed to give information to Cargill's son's current caretaker and not Cargill, but Cargill would still call and try to the get information out of the clinic. Gillispie and the State go over Cargill's phone records that were admitted into evidence yesterday. The state asks Gillispie if she remembers a call on June 18 at 11:07 am that lasted for about 12 minutes. Gillispie says she does remember that call because she just let Cargill vent. Gillispie says she has never received a call like that from a patient before. Gillispie says Cargill would scream so loudly that she couldn't even talk over her. She says Cargill would be very angry and tell the doctors office they had no right to keep an appointment with her knowledge. Gillispie says the call was very upsetting because she is a mother and was trying to maintain a professional persona in the office. She says Cargill would call on multiple occasions in such an angry rage that she would have to tell her she was going to hang up the phone. Gillispie tells the jury she was concerned about the safety of people at the clinic after talking to Cargill and told her employees to make sure the back door to the clinic remained locked.

Bingham passes the witness.

Defense has no questions for Gillispie.

Bingham calls next witness, a DA investigator who has also worked for Bullard PD and the Smith County Sheriff's office.

State's exhibit 73 is admitted into evidence. Exhibit 73 is the original subpoena for Cherry Walker. Walker was delivered a copy; the attorney keeps the original.

Investigator goes over the events of delivering the subpoena. Investigator says in the parking lot he met Paula Wheeler who identified herself as Walker's caregiver. The investigator went upstairs, delivered the subpoena, briefly met Walker and left. 

The state and the investigator go over Cargill's phone records showing Cargill calling the DA's office at 7:34 pm on the day Walker was delivered the subpoena. Investigator identities a photo of Walker. He describes her as pleasant and courteous.

State passes the witness.

Defense asks how many other subpoenas the investigator delivered that day. He says about 10.

Defense asks if Kimberly Cargill, the woman charged with capital murder of Cherry Walker, called the district attorneys office hours before she's accused of committing the crime.

Investigator says yes.

Defense asks if the number Cargill called at the DA's office was the number of the assistant of the assistant DA handling Cargill's CPS case. Investigator says yes.

State calls next witness, Gina Vestal, who's job in 2010 was to place and staff nurses. She was a staffing coordinator with Excel staffing. Vestal says she had staffed Cargill in Pittsburg, Quitman, Athens and UT but had never met her in person.

Vestal knows Cargill was making $22-$24 per hour.

Vestal recounts the night of June 18 when she could not get ahold of Kimberly Cargill when ETMC Athens was asking her to. ETMC Athens didn't know if Cargill had given a patient medicine or not. Vestal says Cargill is almost always one to answer her phone so it was very out of character for her not to be answering on the evening of June 18.

Vestal says she was getting irritated with Cargill because the hospital was getting mad at Excel staffing. Vestal says Cargill finally called her back around 12:30 am and told her she had been sleeping.

State shows Cargill's weekly time sheet to vestal. Showing Cargill worked 10 hours on Friday the 18th.

State refers to phone records that show Cargill called ETMC in Athens at 12:34 am and they called her again at 2:21 am.

On June 19, Vestal called Kim Cargill to see if she could work and she declined.

State admits into evidence Cargill's time slips, job application, etc.

Time slip on June 18 shows Cargill clocked in at 6:45 am and out at 7:30 pm with a 30 minute lunch break.

State goes over the week of the 18th with Vestal. The only three days Cargill worked that week were the 13th, 16th and 18th.

State asks Vestal if it would be out of the ordinary for her to call Cargill at 4 am to report to work at 6 am. Vestal says no. She says Cargill liked to work and would usually take a shift after calling her babysitter to watch her son.

State is looking for a document they need to finish questioning Vestal. Ten minute recess.

State shows Vestal two of Cargill's paycheck stubs from June 2010 and they go over how much she's making.

Pass the witness.

Defense asks Vestal to clarify if Cargill canceled work June 19 or if the hospital canceled on her. Vestal says the hospital canceled on Cargill, then Cargill was offered a different assignment that day and she declined.

Defense asks about the night of June 18. Vestal first called Cargill around 8:30 pm, but Cargill did not answer. Vestal didn't hear from Cargill until  12:30 am.

Defense: Bottom line, the defendant worked a 12 hour shift on June 18? Vestal: Yes.

The state says they have no further questions. The defense asks for a minute to look over something.

Defense says the phone records from June 18 don't show a call from

Vestal  at 8:30 pm.  They say the records show Vestal's first call to Cargill was at 10:30 pm. Vestal says she knows it had to be earlier because the hospital called her right after Cargill left work around  7:30, but there's no record of her calling Cargill until 10:30 pm so now she can't be sure.

State shows Vestal the calls Cargill was making while at work. 

State: Isn't she supposed to be working?

Vestal: Yes.

State: Y'all are paying her aren't you while she's making all of these calls?

Vestal: Yes.

State: Would that be good with y'all?

Vestal: No.

State goes through the call records counting 78 calls Cargill made while she was at the hospital working.

Defense asks again about the call to Cargill on June 18. Vestal says the call must have been at 10:30 pm.

State asks Vestal if she sill feels like there was another call at 8:30 pm. She says yes.

Recess until 1pm.

Witnesses after lunch are Sonya Burton and Gethry Walker, Cherry Walker's father.

State calls witness Sonya Burton

Sonya Burton has been a hair stylist for 15 years. She knew Cherry Walker for about 10 years. Sonya saw Cherry June 18, 2010 at about 12:30 when she got to the shop. Her hair usually takes 1.5-2 hours to do. Paula Wheeler, Cherry's case worker, dropped her off. Sonya says Cherry was cheerful and talkative. Sonya says she saw no scratches or bruises around Cherry's face or head.

Sonya says Cherry would carry her coin purse and the phone number of the person who was supposed to pick  her up so she could remember who she was supposed to call after she was done getting her hair done.

The state shows Sonya a photo of Walker's body the way it was found on June 19 and asks her to identify the person in the photo. With a quivering voice Sonya looks at the picture and responds, "That's Cherry."

State calls next witness Angie Grant, a registered nurse at ETMC in Athens. Grant has been a nurse for 17 years. 

State approaches Grant with a time slip. Grant explains she signed off on Cargill's time slip because she was a house supervisor. Grant says she doesn't know Cargill personally.

Grant goes over what Cargill's responsibilities would be... Taking care of patients, bathing them, giving them mediation, checking on their families.

State begins going over Cargill's phone records with Grant. State asks if Grant would expect a nurse to make as many calls or texts as Cargill did on June 18. State lists off the exact times of 78 different calls or texts Cargill made at work that day. Grant says "no" this is not what she'd expect from one of her nurses before the state finishes listing off all of the call/text message times.

State asks Grant about access cards to get to particular rooms.

Grant tells the jury there would be a reason for an LVN to have access to things like lab rooms, med rooms and equipment rooms.

State: Do you remember anything about the lady Kim Cargill who's time slip you signed?

Grant: No 

Defense has no questions for Grant.

State calls Angela Hardin, an RN at ETMC in Tyler. Hardin tells the court she is nervous. Hardin met Cargill in 2002 at orientation. Hardin says she would consider Cargill a friend from 2002-2010. Hardin says she never worked with Cargill. Hardin remembers Cargill asking her for help with a child custody case.

The state begins going over Cargill's cell phone records with Hardin.

Hardin says Cargill called her on June 18. She says Cargill was very upset because she said her mentally challenged babysitter had been subpoenaed and Cargill said something along the lines of "[Walker] is going to ruin me or destroy everything."

Hardin says she remembers Cargill asking her to go to the child custody hearing but she told Cargill she couldn't go.

Hardin says the next time she spoke to Cargill was the following Sunday. Hardin says she spoke to Cargill a lot in June.

Hardin says when she talked to Cargill on Sunday, Cargill seemed much more calm. Cargill asked Hardin to reconsider going to the hearing. Hardin said she would not reconsider. Cherry Walker was brought up in this conversation.

State: What did Kimberly Cargill say about the babysitter?

Hardin: That she had tried to get her to go to do dinner so they could discuss some of the questions that might come up

State: Did she go to dinner?

Hardin: She told me the babysitter told her --- defense objects to Hardin answering this question, attorneys consult at the bench, Hardin answers the question.

Hardin: She did not take the babysitter to dinner. That the babysitter told her she could not go out. She said that the babysitter told her that she wanted to go out and get her a white man. Then she asked me if I heard her and she repeated it again.

Hardin tells the jury that he thought it was odd that Cargill was telling her this and telling her twice to make sure she heard something that she didn't even think Cargill should be telling her. Hardin says she never met Cherry Walker.

Defense begins questioning the witness.

Hardin tells the jury prior to June 2010 she spoke to Cargill off and on. They'd talk frequently then just get busy and not talk for weeks.

Hardin says the first person she spoke to about the June conversation was a person in the DA's office a few months later. Hardin was subpoenaed for the Grand Jury hearing but she did not testify there. Hardin says she never spoke to anyone in law enforcement about the conversation with Cargill. She says she never told anyone else about her conversations with Cargill because she didn't think she should and she didn't want to talk about it.

Defense asks Hardin what the conversation on June 20 was about again. She says, "It was basically about letting her know I would not be at the hearing and about Ms. Walker and about her not wanting to go to dinner with Mrs. Cargill."

Hardin says she did not know she was listed as an emergency contact for Kimberly Cargill in July of 2010.

Hardin says she was contacted by someone from the Sheriff's office briefly. 

Hardin says this testimony hard for her and she is about to cry. She says it's a very tragic situation because a life was lost, another is being destroyed, children don't have their mother and a family lost their daughter."

15 minute recess before state calls next witness Lauren Puig, Cargill's neighbor.

Loren (correct spelling) Puig is brought to the witness stand. Puig lives in the Waterton subdivision of Whitehouse. She owns two businesses and works at Texas Spine and Joint Hospital. Puig met Cargill years and years ago. They worked together a few times at Texas Spine and Joint hospital. Puig would consider Cargill an acquaintance. They had each others' cell phone numbers.

Puig goes over seeing Cargill on Saturday the 19th. "I had just come home from work. It was about 7:25 in the morning, Puig says." She says she pulled in to her driveway and Kim was pulling out of her driveway.

Puig: I said what are you doing out so early? She said she was going to go clean her car.

She said that particular night she didn't sleep well. She said whoever she was working for kept calling her all night.

State: Did she tell you anything about her financial situation at the time?

Puig: She said she was behind on her house payments and was picking up extra shifts.

Puig talks about how Cargill asked her to testify in the June 23 hearing. She says she didn't think she should testify because she didn't really know Cargill and the kids well enough to do so.

State begins going over phone records with Puig.

State shows Puig text messages between her and Cargill on the evening of June 20. Puig was in the hospital and Cargill kept bugging her.

Text message reads, "I can't believe you're at the hospital still." Puig remembers thinking that text was odd as she was getting 6 units of blood that night. Puig says Cargill came by her house a few times but she didn't answer the door.

Pass the witness.

Defense asks Puig if she has been neighbors with Cargill for about three years. She says yes.

State calls next witness Bill Selmon.

Selmon says he was employed by the City of Whitehouse in the utilities department.

Selmon says he knows Cargill. He identifies her in the courtroom.

Selmon says by June 2010 he'd known Cargill for about 4 years. He met her through the city when they were fixing her waterline. He says he did not date Cargill. He says she took him out to dinner once to pay him back for mowing her lawn, fixing her plumbing, etc. 

Selmon says he received 5-8 text messages from Cargill a day. He said  he'd been in her house a few times. She paid him the first 2-3 times he mowed her lawn but he told her she didn't have to pay him after that because she was complaining of money problems.

Selmon went through a CPS background check so he could be a supervisor for her visits with one of her sons.

State asks Selmon if he knew Cherry Walker. He says he'd heard Cargill talk about Cherry and that Cargill described her as "slow."

State: Have you ever seen Kimberly Cargill hit herself?

Selmon: Yes

Selmon starts telling the jury about one time when he was driving with Cargill to pick up one of her sons and he told her he couldn't spend the whole day overseeing her visitation and she raised her voice and got angry.

Selmon says Cargill began slapping herself back and forth in the face. Selmon says if he could have he would have gotten out of the car (Cargill was driving). He was concerned because he'd never seen her act that way before.

State begins going over phone records with Selmon.

Cargill texted Selmon to call her "ASAP" around 2pm on June 18. Selmon says he called her after that at 2:17 and they talked about 25 minutes. He remembers knowing Cargill was very upset.

Selmon talks about how Cargill kept her car. He says she hardly had time to keep her car clean. There were always a lot of fast food bags, coffee cups. "I was always having to move stuff around to get my feet in there."

State shows Selmon two large photos of opened dairy fresh creamers from Burger King. He says he has seen those creamers in Cargill's car before and that he knows she really likes Burger King. State says these creamers are photos of the creamers found at the crime scene.

Selmon says on Friday the 18th he and his fiancé and some family went to a pool hall in Jacksonville. They got back home around 3am. Saturday he hung out at his fiancé's and then went to the lake that afternoon.

After the lake they go to Burger King and see Cargill in the drive-thru line. They walk up to Cargill's car and talk to her for a few minutes before going in to place their order.

State: Did anything stand out about the vehicle that you saw?

Selmon: It was clean.

State: Clean on the outside? It'd been washed?

Selmon: Yes. The wheels were actually shiny. The inside of the car, the dashboard was shiny. 

Selmon says he told Cargill that her car was so clean he hardly even recognized the car.

State: when you talked to her Friday she was very upset

Selmon: Yes

State: How's she acting on Saturday the 19th? Does she appear upset or look nervous?

Selmon: No. She was laughing. Seemed like she was in a good mood.

Selmon says he mowed Cargill's yard on fathers day. Selmon says they got to talking about setting off foggers in her house. He said he assumed she had a roach problem if she was setting off foggers.

Selmon and the state discuss text messages she sent to him implying he should have come over Friday night or Saturday morning. State says she sent these texts to infer she was just sitting around at home and he didn't stop by.

Day 1: Trial of ETX mom accused of killing babysitter

By Melanie Torre - Kltv.com

May 7, 2012

Bingham says walker feeds Cargill's kids with her SSI income.  "Kimberly Cargill would take her son to stay with a mentally retarded girl when that son's father lived in the same complex as Walker. But the father never knew. That's what you have sitting right there (points to defendant)."

Walker would miss doctors appointments because Cargill would just leave her son with him. Bingham makes a list on the whiteboard of about three dozen dates Cargill left her son with Walker.

Everything changed on 6/18 at 10:20., Bingham says.

"Kimberly Cargill didn't talk to Cherry much. She used Cherry for one thing.. to take her son to and dump him off," Bingham says.

Bingham shows the jury a list of Cargill's phone calls and texts the day Cherry went missing. All texts Cargill sent had been deleted.

10:20 Cherry leaves Cargill a voicemail

10:48 Cargill checks the voicemail

10:49 Cargill calls Cherry back and talks to her for 8.75 minutes

10:59 Calls Cherry again

11:06 Cargill calls her attorney

12:19 Cherry gets dropped off by Paula at the Salon to get her hair done

2:14 Cargill Cherry walker again

3:29 Cargill calls Walker again

7:28pm Walker calls Cargill again

7:30pm Cargill clocks out at ETMC

7:35pm Cargill calls Walker and tells her she's coming to pick her up, take her out to eat and paging her to clean her house that night *Cherry calls Paula and tells her she's going out with Cargill 8pm Cargill gets a speeding ticket from Chandler PD

8:01 Cherry Calls Cargill and tells Cargill not to come over 8:02pm Cargill calls Cherry. "That's the last phone call the defendant makes and it's the last time anyone hears the voice of Cherry Walker."

From 8:02pm until 12:23am Cargill doesn't make another call, answer another call or send another text.

For hours after 8pm Cargill is receiving calls from work. The hospital needs to know who Cargill did and didn't give medicine to since she left work so fast no one knows which patients she finished treating.

Phone records on 6/19 show Cargill never tried calling Walker once.

"Where's Cherry? Where's the calls to her? You called her about a gazillion times the day before." Bingham says Cargill isn't calling Cherry because she knows Cherry isn't a problem anymore.

On 6/19 at 7:45 am Cargill talks briefly to her neighbor and tells her she's going to wash her car. On 6/19 Cargill goes to Whitehouse PD asking if they found her dog that was missing for two months. The Cargill starts making small talk asking if it been a slow day for the police department.

Bingham tells the jury they'll hear from Paula Walker and they'll hear about the big mistakes Cargill Makes. Bingham says the jury will hear about the dairy fresh creamers from dairy queen found at the crime scene and all throughout Cargill's house.

Bingham goes back to the morning of 6/18. When Cargill calls Walker, Walker's caretaker Paula Wheeler is present. Paula hears all of their conversations and even talks to Cargill herself multiple times. Cargill tells Paula that she will hide Walker out at her house. Cargill tells Paula, "If they find out something is wrong with [Walker], they'll take my kid from me."

Walkers body ground around 3:30pm on June 19 when a pizza delivery man makes a U-turn and sees the body. Bingham describes the burns, the clothes and the condition she is left in.

On fathers day Cherry's dad sees the news, calls the police and says the woman found could be his missing daughter.

Recess until 1pm.

Defense not making opening statement. Will start with first witness at 1.

Day 1 Part 2:

State calls first witness

Richard Wilson, age 83, retired 11 years ago Got a Masters degree from ACU in Psychology, also attended other colleges; at his time of retirement he was licensed in the state of Texas.

Bingham: Do you remember cherry walker?

Wilson: No I do not

According to a report, the first time Wilson saw her was in 1995 to determine if she met the legal requirement for mentally retarded services. She did qualify. Wilson saw her again in 2000 because she had given birth to a child and someone thought she was functioning at a higher level than before. He found she had not made any significant changes in her adaptive functioning.

Wilson says in 1995 she had an IQ of 56. The average is 100.

State: Are there some people who are still mentally retarded but operate at a high level?

Wilson: Yes

State: Would you put [Walker] at low, moderate or high level?

Wilson: Moderate

State: What can you tell us, if you're able to, would you have found Cherry Walker to be childlike?

Wilson: I frankly don't remember her.

State: How do you categorize her adaptive behavior assessments?

Wilson: Well, there are standard questions you ask and you find out what she can do.

State: In 2000, her score based on the book you're using, placed her at the age equivalent of someone who was five years and six months old?

Wilson: Yes

State: So when she was 29 years old, her communication domain was that of someone who was four years, four months? [communication domain is ability to communicate with others]

Wilson: Yes

State: Her daily living skills domain was 9 years, 0 months? [daily living skills include dressing, bathing, etc.]

Wilson: Yes

State: She had an adaptive behavior domain of someone  who was six years, six months?

Wilson: That is correct

Bingham asks Wilson if he asses whether or not someone with the adaptive, daily living skills and communication domain of Walker's would be recommended to oversee young children. Wilson says that's not something he evaluates.

Wilson says records show Walker attended Orr Elementary School and was placed in special education in second grade. She graduated from John Tyler High School through the special education program.

Bingham passes the witness.

Defense asks Wilson if he has any personal recollection of Cherry Walker or her testing. He says he doesn't remember her and only has the two reports from 1995 and 2000 to use as reference.

Wilson tells the defense he was a psychologist for the mental retardation department of the Andrews Center and only worked in that department.

State calls second witness Jennifer Dalmida, an analyst for Verizon wireless. Flew in from Georgia to testify. Testifying today for records pertaining to the number 903-570-2880.

Dalmida says according to Verizon records the customer for this account was listed as Jill Low, 1804 Waterton Circle, Whitehouse Texas.

The account also had contact information listed as Kimberly Low (903) 570-2880

State shows about a 15 blown up images with cell phone records printed on them and asks Dalmida to review them and highlight certain numbers. This takes about an hour.

15 minute recess

Dalmida finishes highlighting the call log displays. Bingham begins to go over the call logs asking Dalmida to verify which numbers were initiating the call or text, which calls went to voicemail, how long the calls lasted. Bingham is showing the jury evidence of Cargill & Walker's communication the day Walker went missing.

Pass the witness

Defense asks when account was opened. Dalmida answers August 25, 2003. Defense has no further questions. State asks if the account has always been under the same name. Dalmida says according to her records, yes.

State calls next witness.

Justin Hall, a detective with the smith count sheriff's office. Started working there in 2003. Worked as a jailer, jail sergeant and patrolman. Say he analyzes computers, cell phones and digital media.

State asks Hall what his role has been in the Cargill case. Hall says he helped search her phone and her house. Remembers her garage to be very messy. 

Defense begins asking Hall about identifying Cargill's phone through serial number and photos. Hall says he did do the analysis of the phone.

Hall says he attempted to analyze Paula Wheeler's cell phone, as well. Hall says he was not able to retrieve any information (calls, texts, voicemails) between Paula and Cherry because Paula had deleted everything.

Defense: Who's number is 903-504-9580

Hall says he doesn't remember, he just knows they found an owners Manuel in Cherry Walker's apartment with that number written on it. He says they believed it to be Cherry Walker's number but couldn't be sure.

Hall says he had about 5 phones turned over to him in the investigation.

Jury is taken out of the room as the state and defense argue over the relevance of presenting her text messages to the jury.

Defense argues these messages going months back before the alleged offense are irrelevant.

Cargill begins to shake her head "no" which noticeably irritates Bingham who says, "If she's just going to sit there shaking her head 'no' then let's just bring the jury back and let them decide. Cargill's attorneys have a short word with her and she goes back to incessantly writing on the legal pad she has had in her lap all day.

State and defense continue to dispute over which text messages can be admitted to evidence on condition of relevance.

State agrees to remove the text message where a family member tells her it's not fair for her to use the child support money for one child to pay for an attorney after beating the other child.

"Being the master manipulator she is, she deletes the texts that she sends and keeps the texts from everybody else," Bingham says.

"That part about beating her child... We can save it for punishment when deciding to send her to death row," Bingham says.

Cargill Capital Murder Trial Begins

By Dayna Worchel - TylerPaper.com

May 8, 2012

In the hours after her mentally challenged babysitter went missing, evidence shows Kimberly Diane Cargill tried to get her former husband and friends to testify for her in a child custody hearing.

The 45-year-old Whitehouse woman is accused in the 2010 murder of 39-year-old Cherry Walker, Ms. Cargill's babysitter who planned to testify against her employer in the hearing. The capital murder trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, began on Monday in the 241st District Court in Tyler.

The Smith County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty. Both prosecution and defense attorneys argued outside the presence of the jury later on Monday afternoon about the relevance of some text messages which a Smith County detective found on the defendant's phone.

“There were a lot of text messages — it doesn't make them relevant just because they are from Kim Cargill's phone,” defense attorney Jeff Haas said. He asked Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham to point out which texts were relevant.

Prosecutors said the texts were relevant because they occurred between June 17 and June 21, 2010, and some had occurred on the day of the offense, June 18, 2010. Bingham told Judge Jack Skeen Jr. that the Ms. Cargill was calling friends wishing them a “Happy Father's Day,” while Ms. Walker's father was calling the Smith County Sheriff's Office to ask about his missing daughter.

Bingham said in court that Ms. Cargill had called her former husband, Brian Cargill, on the day Ms. Walker went missing, to ask if he would testify for her in a child custody hearing that had been scheduled for June 23, 2010. Brian Cargill did not respond to her texts or calls, Bingham said.

Prosecutors agreed after hearing the concerns of the defense not to introduce into evidence any texts dealing with any other offenses Ms. Cargill had committed.

In a two-hour opening statement, Matt Bingham linked some DNA evidence found at the scene where Ms. Walker's partially-burned body was discovered along County Road 2191, also known as Oscar Burkett Road in June 2010.

Bingham said to the jury that a straw and an empty coffee cream container from a fast food restaurant, which was found near Ms. Walker's body, contained DNA material which could not exclude Ms. Cargill as being the contributor after the DNA was tested.

Smith County Sheriff's Detective Justin Hall testified that the he searched Ms. Cargill's home and found the same coffee creamer containers in the bedroom.

Another witness called by the prosecution, Jennifer Dalmida, of Verizon Wireless, testified about the phone records showing numerous calls and texts between phone numbers belonging to Ms. Cargill, Ms. Walker, and a nursing supervisor for a temp agency for which Ms. Cargill had worked for the day before.

The supervisor had left numerous phone messages for Ms. Cargill, asking her if she had given patients at East Texas Medical Center their medications. “After 8 p.m. on June 18, 2010, all of the calls placed to Kimberly Cargill's phone went directly to voice mail,” Bingham said to the jury.

A now-retired psychologist, Richard Wilson, testified that he had evaluated Ms. Walker, whom he said met the definition of being mentally challenged, to see if she was eligible to receive social services. Wilson said that Ms. Walker had the daily living skills of a 9-year-old.

Wilson testified that when Ms. Walker was 26, she had some major motor seizures and was on medication for it, in response to questioning from defense attorney Brett Harrison.

Bingham told the jury during opening arguments about the findings of the coroner who performed the autopsy on Ms. Walker, saying that her death had been caused by “homicidal violence.” He told the jury that the evidence would show that Ms. Walker's death could have been caused by suffocation and that her body had been dumped on a county road miles from where the victim lived in Tyler.

Bingham also said that a hair found on the headrest in Ms. Cargill's car had a 1 in 96 chance of belonging to an African American, which includes Ms. Walker.

Bingham presented a timeline of events for June 18, 2010, the day Ms. Walker called Ms. Cargill to tell her she had received a subpoena to testify. “Cherry Walker is dead from that moment on,” Bingham said. Phone records showed numerous calls Ms. Cargill placed to the victim, asking her to clean her house and telling her she would take her out to eat. After June 18, phone records do not show many more phone calls from Ms. Cargill to Ms. Walker.

The defense elected not to make an opening statement.

Capital murder arrest in Cherry Walker case

CBS19.tv

July 30, 2010

SMITH COUNTY (KYTX) - Arrest affidavits reveal that DNA evidence has been discovered on a container near Cherry Walker's body, the DNA belongs to Kimberly Cargill. That evidence played a crucial part in charging Cargill with capital murder.

The 43 year old is accused of murdering Walker to keep her from testifying against Cargill in a child custody case. CBS 19's Anthony Austin saw Cargill in court this morning.

Kimberly Cargill has been behind bars here at the Smith County Jail for more than a month. She's been busy communicating with friends to change her computer passwords and move evidence apparently to throw off investigators in two separate investigations.

Dressed in a pair of jeans and a purple blouse. Kimberly Cargill stood quietly before Judge Jack Skeen in a Smith County courtroom Friday morning. "You are accused of the criminal offense of capital murder."

This arrest affidavit reveals that an important piece of evidence in the capital murder charge is a container found on the ground between the knees of Cherry Walker's body. Cargill's DNA was discovered on that container. Walker's body was found partially burned along a Smith County road in June.

The 29-year-old was scheduled to testify as a witness in Cargill's child custody case. "The allegations that are presented in the documents show Cargill took her life as a potential witness. She did not have the opportunity to testify."

While in jail, arrest affidavits show Cargill has been in contact with at least three people. One is an old, high school acquaintance. Cargill asked her to take clothes from her home, items that could be possible evidence in the murder case.

The affidavit also shows that Cargill was planning to mail a letter to the female friend with a list of accounts, user names, and passwords.

One of those passwords is to Cargill's cell phone, which is in the possession of Smith County Sheriff's department.

Cargill told her friend that she could change the password to the cell phone from a landline. "She is currently being held this morning on felony injury to a child."

Cargill is facing another charge of injuring one of her children. While in jail, Cargill asked a male friend to remove an orange bicycle that could be evidence in the CPS case. He complied. That bike was later discovered at the man's residence by a Sheriff's deputy.

There are two separate investigations now underway. Kimberly Cargill is at the center of both.

We also spoke with the mother of Cargill's high school friend. She said Cargill was in jail when she called her house, and she was crying. The mother thought this was unusual, because she had not seen Cargill for more than 20 years.

Cargill's ex-husband was in the courtroom this morning. We spoke with him right after the arraignment. He says his son is actually the child Cargill is accused of abusing. He says he was married to Cargill for only a year.

Cargill is jailed on bonds totaling $1.5 million. She's charged with injury to a child, her son, as well as the capital murder of Cherry Walker.