The attorney for a man from upstate New York accused of shooting and killing a woman, 20, who was with friends when they turned into his driveway by mistake Thursday called it a ‘terrible accident’ involving a defective firearm as the arguments in his murder case began.
Kevin Monahan is accused of second-degree murder for the death Kaylin Gilis. She was with friends and got lost on their way to another person’s home one Saturday night in April.
Two cars and a motorbike in the group turned by mistake into Monahan’s long, unpaved drive near the Vermont Border. Once they realized their error, the caravan turned back. Authorities accuse Monahan of firing two shots with a shotgun from his porch, hitting Gillis in the throat.
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In their opening remarks, attorneys for both the prosecution and defense gave radically different accounts of what transpired during those few moments.
Defendant Kevin Monahan (center) is flanked during opening remarks in his murder trial in Fort Edward, N.Y. on Jan. 11,2024. Monahan was accused of fatally shooting a woman, 20, who was with a small group of friends that accidentally drove into his driveway.
Christian Morris, Assistant District Attorney, said Monahan caused Gillis to die in a reckless manner and then provided false information about the shooting. He said that the group of friends, mostly teenagers, realized their mistake and turned around. The second bullet hit Gillis’ boyfriend’s Ford Explorer. She was hit while sitting on the front passenger seat.
There’s a lot going on in this car. Morris described the shooting as a time of panic.
Arthur Frost, the defense attorney, said that Monahan had been scared by a group of strangers who arrived late at night at his remote house. According to the lawyer, Monahan handed his wife a revolver and she went into the closet before he went out on the porch.
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Frost stated that Monahan fired an airborne warning shot and observed the vehicles leaving.
“And he walks and he looks and he stumbles, and then he bangs on the gun.” Frost told the jury that it went off.
Frost claimed that tests conducted by police on the weapon showed it to be defective, as it only fired one shot when dropped.
This was a horrible accident. Frost said that someone should have realized this by now.
Gillis’s friends immediately called for assistance when they discovered a cell phone signal from several miles away. The 911 call, played during the trial, revealed that the dispatcher guided her friends in panic through CPR as they waited on help. Emergency workers were unable save her.
Gillis’s father and other supporters attended the trial on Thursday. Andrew Gillis described his daughter, who was a lover of animals with dreams to become a marine biologist and veterinarian.
The death of the young woman reverberated well beyond the rural area about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north-east of Albany. Gillis’ death came just days after an 18-year-old Kansas City, Missouri teen was shot after he went to the wrong home to pick up his brothers.
This week, the publicity made jury selection difficult. The trial attorneys and court officials spent three days narrowing down the pool of potential jury members before settling on a 12-person jury and four alternates.
Morris described Monahan previously as “confrontational” and “hot-tempered.” Monahan, according to a neighbor who witnessed the shootings, had become increasingly angry over the years when people drove onto his property by mistake.
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Morris said on Thursday that Monahan didn’t call 911 until the police showed up at his house to investigate a noise complaint. He then suggested that it might have been hunters in the area with dogs.
Monahan said to a dispatcher that he hadn’t heard anything. This was based on a 911 call, which was played during the trial.
Morris: “He keeps saying he wants back to bed.”
Monahan’s spouse, Jinx Monahan testified that from where she was hiding, she did not see the incident and that they talked about their fear afterward.
Her testimony is scheduled to continue on Friday.
Monahan sat at the defense’s table in a jacket with a tie and listened to their opening statements. He was also accused of reckless endangerment, tampering evidence and tampering the evidence. He’s been behind bars since April.
The trial will last a few weeks.