Anthony Kirkland's Taped Police Interview Played to His Resentencing Jury: WCPO Report, 2018

Name: Anthony Kirkland's Taped Police Interview Played to His Resentencing Jury: WCPO Report, 2018
Uploaded: 2018-07-27T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 54 s
Description: A WCPO live report from the Hamilton County Courthouse on the day jurors at Anthony Kirkland's 2018 resentencing heard his 2009 police interview about the killing of 13-year-old Esme Kenney.

A WCPO live report from the Hamilton County Courthouse on the day jurors at Anthony Kirkland's 2018 resentencing heard his 2009 police interview about the killing of 13-year-old Esme Kenney.

Subject: Anthony Kirkland
Recorded: July 27, 2018
Runtime: 2:54

Content warning: Concerns the murder of a 13-year-old girl and the murders of other women and girls; brief description of the attack.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Anthony Kirkland, and his voice is not heard. It is a WCPO 9 news segment from Friday, July 27, 2018, the day jurors at his resentencing in Cincinnati watched hours of the videotaped police interview he gave after his arrest in March 2009. In a live exchange, a WCPO anchor in the studio and court reporter Tom McKee, at the Hamilton County Courthouse, summarize what the jury heard on the tape. None of the tape's audio is played in the segment.

Historical Context

Anthony Kirkland had served prison time for the 1987 killing of Leola Douglas, to which he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Between 2006 and 2009 he killed four more women and girls in Cincinnati: - Casonya Crawford, 14; - Mary Jo Newton; - Kimya Rolison; - Esme Kenney, 13, who was killed on March 7, 2009, near a Cincinnati reservoir.

He was taken into custody within hours and interviewed by detectives. In 2010 he was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Casonya Crawford and Esme Kenney. In 2016 the Ohio Supreme Court vacated the death sentences because of the prosecutor's closing argument at the 2010 penalty phase, and a new sentencing jury was empaneled in 2018.

Circumstances of the Recording

The resentencing was held in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Patrick Dinkelacker. On July 27, 2018, prosecutors played the recording of Kirkland's interview with Cincinnati Police Detective Keith Witherell. According to WCPO, court adjourned for the weekend before the part in which he confessed to all the killings. McKee reported live from the courthouse at the end of the day.

What the Interview Covers

McKee summarizes the tape. According to his account: - Kirkland at first said he had never seen Esme near the reservoir. - He had her watch and iPod when he was taken into custody. - When the detective told him the items were hers, he answered, "Are you serious?" - He said she was alive when he left her, and offered to lead police to her. - After her body was found, he said that in a rage he saw the face of his child's mother, and beat and killed her.

McKee describes Esme's relatives leaving the courtroom in tears and says her mother cried when asked in court to identify Esme's photograph. He explains that the resentencing was needed because of the prosecutor's 2010 closing argument. He also describes the long pauses on the tape and the jurors' attention to it.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report is a record of the day the jury at the 2018 resentencing heard Kirkland's own account of the Kenney killing, as seen by a reporter in the courtroom. It shows how the interview unfolded: denial first, and an admission only after Esme's body was found.

Archival Importance

The interview tape itself is a court exhibit and is not part of this video. This segment preserves WCPO's contemporaneous account of what it contained and of the resentencing, which ended with a new death sentence on August 28, 2018.

Important Caveats

- Kirkland is not heard. The words attributed to him ("Are you serious?" and his account of the rage) are the reporter's summary of the tape, not a recording of his voice. - The YouTube title, "Jury continues listening to serial killer's taped confession", may suggest that the confession is heard; it is not. - McKee's paraphrase of the prosecutor's 2010 closing argument is his own summary and should not be quoted as the prosecutor's exact words.

Anchor: [unclear: "Traumatic"] interrogation takes center stage today. Jurors heard part of Anthony Kirkland's statement to police after he was taken into custody in 2009. [unclear: "Not on your side, Tom, if he"; probably "9 On Your Side's Tom McKee"] joins us to break down what happened today in this serial killer resentencing. And Tom, we should briefly lay out what jurors heard in the hours of tape played today.

Tom McKee: Well, there were a number of key points. [unclear: "I want to point they take a look at them real quick."] Kirkland says he never saw Esme Kenney at the reservoir where she was later found dead. Now, he was taken into custody before she was found dead, after she was reported missing. He had her iPod and he had her watch with her. Basically, Detective Keith Witherell said, "What if I told you the watch and the iPod belonged to her?" Kirkland's answer: "Are you serious?" He says she was alive when he left her, but obviously we know that's not the case. He offered to take the police to her when she was still missing, but he was evasive in how that would happen. And then police found the body and everything changed. Here's the kicker of the day. He said that when he flew into a rage, he saw his ex-wife, or the mother of his child's, face in Esme's body, and he beat, stomped and then killed her.

Anchor: So Tom, we do know that some of Esme Kenney's relatives were in court today. They were also there at least for the first day, for opening statements, that is, and they were upset that day. What did you notice from them today?

Tom McKee: Well, they were very upset those days. They haven't wanted to talk to us on camera at all, but you can tell they've come out of the courtroom with faces very drawn, very emotional-looking. Many shed tears, as we're told. Of course, the statement (Esme's mother, name withheld), Esme's mother, made and was introduced in court. She cried when she introduced, or was asked to identify, the picture of Esme. This case has basically been without very much emotion. As you know, we're redoing it because the Ohio Supreme Court said Joe Deters overstepped his bounds when he said, basically, Anthony Kirkland deserved to die, and "Don't make a mistake, don't let him go because of a freebie." So that's where we are. Testimony continues Monday with the rest of this statement and the four confessions to the murders, Tanya.

Anchor: Okay, so there was plenty of emotion in what Deters said that got this kicked back to Hamilton County, but a little lacking courtroom drama right now, because a lot of this video, it's video testimony. Are you noticing that?

Tom McKee: It's a lot of video testimony. It's hard to keep up with it, but you have to stay focused on it, because it's very long periods of pauses and then some relevant information comes out. But I think the jurors, for the most part, are very attentive. A lot of evidence, very violent, graphic pictures that they've seen. They're going to have a tough choice making their decision once they get into that jury room in about 10 days or so.

Anchor: All right, Tom McKee at the Hamilton County Courthouse. Thanks so much. And folks, if you need to catch up on what happened this week in the Kirkland resentencing trial, we do have our coverage for you. It's right now on wcpo.com. ---