Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Edward Kendrick sits in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom on Monday during a hearing to argue for a new case to appeal his murder conviction in the 1994 slaying of his wife, Lisa Kendrick.A rifle that fired nearly 17 years ago killed a mother, sent a father to prison and destroyed two families.
Seated in separate rows Monday, those families again saw the weapon and the father who once held it.
Edward T. Kendrick III returned to Hamilton County courts from the Morgan County Correctional Facility, where he has been serving a life sentence on a 1994 first-degree murder conviction for the death of his wife, Lisa Kendrick.
Kendrick has appealed his conviction multiple times. The hearing Monday began a process challenging portions of previous rulings on his appeals. If successful, the current hearing could bring new questions to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and a chance for another trial.
“This matter, for Lisa, her family, the petitioner and his family, needs to be heard and, if it takes a month to do it, we will,” Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole told the courtroom.