Testimony begins in Palmer retrial
By Anne Marie Kyzer Staff Writer

A Burke County man standing trial for the murders of his wife and step-daughter may have intended more victims.

Testimony during Willie Palmer's retrial, which began Monday, indicated that he attacked the mother of three of his children the day before Brenda Jenkins Palmer and Christine Jenkins were found dead in their Vidette home with gun shot wounds to their heads.

Brenda Ross, formerly Brenda Smith, who lived with Palmer sporadically for nearly two decades, told the jury that Palmer had run her down in his car while she and relatives were traveling towards Gough on Highway 305 on Sunday, Sept. 10, 1995.

Ross said she jumped from the car her sister was driving as it veered into an adjacent field and ran to a nearby EMA station for help.

Roughly an hour before, Palmer had allegedly made threatening comments to Ross while she was at a friend's house, and her niece testified that she heard Palmer say he was looking for guns and planned to kill both Brenda Palmer and Brenda Smith.

Ross heard the next morning that Brenda Palmer and her daughter were dead.

The only eyewitness

The only eyewitness to the crime, Palmer's nephew and accomplice then-18-year-old Frederico Palmer, took the stand Tuesday and detailed his version of the events that unfolded the night of the murders as he was questioned by District Attorney Danny Craig.

Frederico is currently serving consecutive life sentences for the murders, for which he pleaded guilty.

Frederico Palmer detailed how he accompanied his uncle to the home that Brenda Palmer shared with her daughters, 15- year-old Christine Jenkins and 15-month-old Willshayla Palmer.

According to testimony, the Palmers' were in the middle of a divorce and Brenda had moved into the tattered, wooden three-room house with no running water and no toilets.

After dropping his uncle off at the driveway, Frederico Palmer parked the car on Highway 305 and walked back to the house, he testified. His uncle allegedly told him to walk on the grass instead of the dirt so footprints could not be seen and not to walk through the woods so they would not be asked about scratches.

Frederico Palmer told of disconnecting the phone line from outside the home and his uncle kicking in the door.

From the porch he allegedly heard his uncle tell Christine Jenkins, who was in a bed in the front room, "Bootie, I told you I'd be back."

Frederico said he then heard a gun shot from where he stood on the porch and heard Brenda and Willie Palmer arguing in the bedroom. He said his uncle called for him to come inside and take the baby, Willshayla, from her mother.

Frederico said he wrestled the baby from her mother's arms, took her outside and heard two shots.

Frederico said Willshayla Palmer was screaming, so he took her back inside.

Upon entering the bedroom, Frederico Palmer said he saw Brenda Palmer lying motionless on the floor and her husband standing over her.

He laid Willshayla beside her dead mother to calm her cries, and the two left just as they had come, he continued.

Jellene Jenkins would find her sister and nieces the next morning. Willshayla was nestled next to her sister Christine's bloodied body on the bed, physically unharmed.

According to Frederico, he and his uncle went to Augusta after the murders, his uncle's idea for an alibi.

They stopped at the bridge over Brushy Creek during their drive up Highway 305 where Willie Palmer allegedly tossed the gun, gloves and his shoes over the side. All of the items were later recovered there by investigators.

The pair returned to Burke County and ended up at Soul City, where they parted ways.

Almost immediately, Frederico Palmer said he told his cousin Kelvin Jenkins what had happened and was encouraged to tell the authorities. However, he would not tell investigators his story until three days later. In the meantime, he continued to tell others about what he witnessed the night of the murders.

Spotted at the scene

When the Georgia Supreme Court granted Willie Palmer a retrial in 2005, their ruling rested on the testimony of one witness, longtime Gough resident Randy Waltower.

According to the ruling, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation paid the witness $500, and the defense was not aware of the payment.

In his testimony this week, Waltower called the payment a reward for stepping forward with information, not a persuasion to testify.

Waltower said he saw Willie Palmer's car parked along Highway 305 around 10:30 the night of the murders but he saw no one inside. Waltower had a friend with him that night who offered the same information at the trial.

When Waltower heard that Willie Palmer had committed the murders and Frederico's part in the crime, he decided to tell deputies what he knew.

In defense

The state won't likely rest its case until Thursday afternoon, Craig said. Then, Willie Palmer's attorneys will launch his defense.

In his opening statement, Randolph Frails, who represents Willie Palmer along with Mike Garrett, focused on Palmer's mental state, saying he was mentally retarded.

Jurors have three possible verdicts, including not guilty, guilty and guilty but mentally retarded.

The guilty but mentally retarded verdict would eliminate the death penalty, Craig said, because Georgia law and the U.S. Supreme Court do not allow a mentally retarded person to be put to death.

While Frederico Palmer was on the stand, defense attorney's stressed that he was not credible.

Their biggest break came Tuesday in the form of a note Frederico admitted writing to his uncle last week.

The note stated that he wouldn't testify if his uncle would pay him $1,200.

Frederico Palmer admitted he would have refused to take the stand if his uncle had paid the money.