Deja Vu

Up-coming Trial

This is a case of a woman named Julie, a registered nurse, who was allegedly poisoned to death with ethylene glycol, over the course of several months.

James Keown, 33, a former radio talk show host, is accused of slowly poisoning his 31-year-old wife, Julie Keown, while the couple was living in Waltham, Massachusetts.

James and Julie had been married for 8 years and had no children. They had moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Waltham in 2004. Middlesex District Attorney, Martha Coakley said he moved Julie to Isolate her from her family.

That spring Julie began suffering from symptoms of nausea, vomiting, slurred speech and a rash down her leg. Doctors couldn't figure out what the cause was. The following September her kidney's began to fail and she slipped into a coma and died. Her parents alerted authorities that they felt she had been poisoned.

Authorities said James Keown told a long string of lies to everyone he knew, including his wife.

Julie Keown thought all was going well. During her illness she felt she had a wonderful husband who was taking care of her. He had told her that they were saving $1,500/mo and she was so proud of him for taking on the load of a job, care for her and going to Harvard Business School.

The couple was not saving $1,500 per month, as James Keown had told his wife. Instead, James Keown had amassed at least $34,000 in debt and his Jaguar was repossessed, authorities said.

He made up the story about attending Harvard and never had graduated from college. He had only enrolled in one class at Harvard's continuing education program. He flunked that class.

He lost his job several months after the couple moved to Waltham in January 2004, when his employer found out he was embezzling money, prosecutors said.

Julie wasn't aware of the lies or the $34,000 debt he had incurred. There was a $250,000 life insurance policy on Julie, but James Keown was never able to cash it in because her death was under investigation.

The trial was to start on April 7, 2008, but was declared a mistrial after a defense expert underwent emergency surgery and was unavailable to testify.

On Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Superior Court Judge Geraldine Hines granted a mistrial and set a new trial date of June 9.

Resources and additional reading...

http://wbztv.com/local/antifreeze.death.julie.2.696509.html

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2008/03/30/news_local/276local02keown.txt

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/30/trial_in_wifes_fatal_poisoning_to_begin/

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/08/radio_host_is_arrested_on_air_in_wifes_death/?page=1

UPDATES

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07/02/08

Guilty!

James Keown Guilty as Charged!

James Keown has been found guilty of the slow, poisoning murder of his 31-year-old wife.

A Middlesex Superior Court jury declared the former WRKO (680-AM) employee guilty of first-degree murder in Woburn this afternoon.

Keown will be sentenced immediately, but the first-degree conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

Keown, 34, spiked his wife’s Gatorade with anti-freeze while they lived in Waltham in 2004 slowly and painfully killing her.

Read story details from the Boston Herald...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1104609

06/30/08

Closing Arguments

Jury will deliberate James Keown trial

Closing arguments were given to the jury in the James Keown poisoning trial.

Prosecutors said that Keown was in debt, and poisoned his wife, Julie, with ethylene glycol, a substance found in antifreeze that was poured in her Gatorade. They contend that Keown wanted to cash in on the $250,000 life insurance he had on his wife.

The defense, who didn't choose to put on a case, claim that Julie Keown could have committed suicide or accidentally drank the poison herself.

The case has now been given to the jury to deliberate first thing Tuesday morning.

Resource details...

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_06_30_Jury_gets_case_in_anti-freeze_slay/srvc=home&position=0

http://www.telegram.com/article/20080630/APN/806300981

06/27/08

Defense Rests

James Keown closing argument to be done on Monday

Just like the Neil Entwistle case, being tried in the same building, the defense for James Keown rested without presenting a case.

The fate of James Keown will now rest in the hands of a jury come Monday. Judge Sandra Hamlin earlier told jurors that the case would not be heard today - for a reason unrelated to the Keown case.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case, yesterday, against the former Missouri radio host.

Prosecutors allege that Gatorade was the vehicle James Keown likely used to slip his wife the fatal doses of ethylene glycol, which is a sweet-syrupy substance that can go undetected when mixed with other liquids.

James Keown's attorneys have suggested that Julie Keown committed suicide by ingesting the ethylene glycol. The defense claims she was despondent about her underlying kidney disease, a condition which would have eventually required a transplant.

Hamlin told jurors to be at the courthouse at 10 a.m. Monday for closing arguments.

Read full resource details...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x875594823/Defense-rests-in-antifreeze-murder-trial

06/26/08

Emails from Julie Keown

James Keown trial update

Emails from Julie Keown, from 2003-2004 were read in court on Wednesday. They were from Julie's laptop computer.

According to the Daily New Tribune, in one of the e-mails, from December 2001, Julie Keown tells a friend while the couple has had its ups and downs, she loved "being married to James."

In a batch of e-mails from 2003, Julie Keown told friends of the couple's impending move to the Boston area so James could supposedly attend Harvard Business School. She said in one of the e-mails that James had been offered a scholarship by Harvard.

Prosecutors, however, claim that James Keown faked his admission into Harvard to escape mounting financial troubles.

Seven days before her death, Julie detailed her failing health in an e-mail to a friend on Sept. 1, 2004. In the e-mail, she said she had been sick to her stomach for months and was easily fatigued.

Julie Keown had a pre-existing kidney condition that may have eventually required a transplant. Assistant District Attorney Nat Yeager said in his opening statement to the jury last week that James Keown attacked his wife's already weakened kidneys by poisoning her.

In the Sept. 1, 2004 e-mail, Julie told a friend that she would eventually need a transplant.

"But basically at some point in time, I will have to have a kidney transplant to live," she said in the e-mail. Julie said that she and James were "scared and nervous" about the state of her health.

"All we can do now is wait and think positive," Julie wrote.

Read resource details...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1816437220/Wifes-e-mails-detail-failing-health

http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1450330/prosecutors_delve_into_keown_computer_files/

06/24/08

Computer Searches for Poisons

James Keown Trial

More testimony was given about the Google searches that were done on two of James Keown's computers that were seized.

Keown had looked up the site "The Anarchist Cookbook" (Just like the Mark Jensen search), which included recipes for explosives and poisons, and a Web page dealing with forensic toxicology as well as searches on how to make or buy ricin.

Theodore Wollmore, a former friend of the Keown's testified that he had asked James Keown, during a dinner conversation, whether he thought he might be charged in his wife's murder and said that Keown stated that a jury would never be able to find him guilty.

"Keown stated he was not worried about being convicted because the case would be circumstantial," Willmore said.

"Prior to that we were supporting him as our friend," Willmore said. Willmore also testified that he and his wife rented a house in Sunset Beach, N.C., with the Keown's and another couple in August 2004. He said at that time Julie Keown had complained of "a lot of stomach upset and nausea."

Authorities say that Keown also faked his admission to Harvard Business School to escape an increasing financial quandary.

In early 2004, Keown even presented to his former boss in Missouri a letter of acceptance supposedly from Britt Dewey, director of admissions at Harvard Business School. Keown had asked to telecommute so he could attend Harvard.

However, Dewey testified yesterday that a signature on the letter did not belong to her.

Resources...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x875594073/Expert-Suspect-Googled-poisons

http://www.wickedlocal.com/waltham/news/x833718170/Expert-Suspect-Googled-poisons

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2008/06/24/news_local/190local25keown.txt

06/21/08

Let the lies begin

James Keown's past is in front of him

Testimony was given, on Friday, that portrayed James Keown as dishonest when it came to his college education and employment.

 Keown was fired from his job in July of 2004, when Tammy Blossom, former CEO of the Learning Exchange, an educational consulting agency in Kansas City, MO, said that she discovered that a contract Keown had developed with another company to develop a Web page for the Learning Exchange was illegitimate.

Blossom said the company also "gathered additional information" regarding Keown's tenure with the Learning Exchange before deciding to terminate his employment.

"At that moment we made the decision that we were going to fire (Keown)," Blossom said.

Blossom also testified that in 2003, Keown asked her if could telecommute so he could pursue a graduate degree from Harvard Business School.

She said Keown provided a letter that showed he had been accepted to Harvard. Prosecutors have claimed Keown faked his admission to escape increasing financial difficulties.

Read full resource details...

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x875593481/Antifreeze-trial-airs-defendants-employment-record

06/20/08

Poisoning research done on computer

James Keown Poisoning Trial

This story just sounds too familiar. The similarities with the researches on the Internet and the defense argument is just like the Mark and Julie Jensen, poisoning trial. It could be that James Keown's love was the love of money, not another female like in the Jensen trial.

According to DailyNewsTribune.com, assistant District Attorney Nat Yeager previously said that before Julie Keown started displaying signs of antifreeze intoxication, her husband researched various poisons, including acetone, arsenic, chloroform and ethylene glycol.

Since opening statements, defense attorney Matthew Feinberg has suggested Julie Keown committed suicide by repeatedly ingesting antifreeze.

Medical Examiner Dr. Faryl Sandler, who performed the autopsy on Julie Keown's body, said she is confident the death was a homicide, which she ruled on a year after Keown died.

But Feinberg questioned Sandler's medical investigation, suggesting that conversations with police and incident reports influenced her ruling.

"In a suicide, usually the evidence is there because there's no reason to hide it. ... The substance that the deceased took is usually there," said Sandler, who also drew her conclusions based upon Julie Keown's medical records. "This is not a painless way to (die)."

Also, according to Julie Keown's records, when asked by Neuringer if she was having suicidal thoughts, Keown said no and the doctor said Keown didn't display any signs of depression.

Read story details (by Kerri Roche)...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/

06/19/08

She could have been saved

James Keown poisoning Trial

According to the DailyNewsTribune.com, medical experts said that if James Keown had brought Julie Keown to Newton-Wellesley Hospital hours earlier during a follow-up appointment and tested when she arrived, she could still be alive.

On Wednesday at Middlesex Superior Court, three doctors specializing in kidney disease and related illnesses all said James Keown's wife should have come to the emergency room hours earlier.

Doctors also offered differing opinions on their analysis of medical records and drug interactions, which defense attorney Matthew Feinberg suggested might have caused Julie Keown to become confused and depressed during the last days of her life.

After her second admission to the hospital in nearly two weeks, Julie Keown slipped into a coma and died on Sept. 8, 2004.

Read full story details...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1816435472/Earlier-treatment-could-have-saved-victims-life

06/16/08

Opening Statements

James Keown Trial

Opening statements began, on Monday, after a long delay in jury selection.

The Asst. District Attorney, Nathaniel Yeager, told the jurors that James Keown gave a lethal dose of Ethylene Glycol, antifreeze, to his wife, Julie, and then waited 10 hours before getting her to a hospital so he could collect $250,000 in life insurance. Julie died on Sept. 8, 2004.

Yeager told the jury that Keown killed his wife after he was fired from his job. Julie was not aware that they were having financial problems, but they got worse and a string of lies Keown had told his wife were unraveling.

"Murder by deception - that is what the evidence in this case will prove," Yeager said.

Keown's attorney, Matthew Feinberg, acknowledged Julie Keown ingested a fatal dose of ethylene glycol, but said "we may never know" if it was suicide or an accident.

"The Commonwealth doesn't know how it happened and neither do we," Feinberg said. "There is no direct evidence linking James Keown to his wife's tragic death."

Resource and details....

http://www.telegram.com/article/20080616/APN/806160873

06/10/08

James Keown Trial Begins

There was a last minute schedule change that caused a slight delay in the trial of James Keown, the man who is accused of poisoning his wife with antifreeze.

Jury selection will begin on Wednesday, according to the Daily News Tribune.

This trial reminds me of the Mark Jensen trial. I'll be anxious to hear if there are any similarities.

I've been waiting for news on this trial, as it is a big one at the Middlesex Superior court, but then so is the NEIL ENTWISTLE case and the James Brescia case, going on at the same time, at the same court house.

I'm sure a lot of newspaper reporters have probably been shuffled over to the Entwistle court room. At least until the Keown trial truly begins.

The Boston Herald calls it "The Perfect Storm" of media trials.

James Brescia, 48, of Waltham is charged with hiring a hit man for $10,000 to murder his estranged wife’s 39-year-old Framingham lover in a Newton parking garage on Jan. 13, 2006.

Neil Entwistle allegedly killed his wife and baby daughter, and then flew to England on a one-way ticket.

“Our prosecutors and trial teams will not be distracted by external factors - our focus is on the victims, their families and serving them by presenting our best case on their behalf,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said. (NLH)

Resources...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1097998

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/police_and_fire/x858457543/Jury-selection-begins-Wednesday-in-antifreeze-murder-case

 New Press release...

 http://www.middlesexda.com/press-release-archive/jury-selection-scheduled-to-begin-tomorrow-morning-in-murder-trial-of-commonwealth-vs-keown/