Jury selection begins in McMinn County rape, murder trial

Joseph Wielzen
Joseph Wielzen

The trial of the McMinn County, Tennessee, man charged in the July 2017 rape and slaying of 18-year-old Kelsey Nicole Burnette began Tuesday with jury selection that is expected to continue at least through Wednesday afternoon before the first witnesses testify.

Joseph Wielzen, 19, is facing trial on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated rape in the death of lifelong Etowah, Tennessee, resident Burnette, whose body was found by a passerby on July 4, 2017, in a trash can in downtown Etowah where she lived. Burnette had been reported missing after attending a party a few days earlier and was the subject of a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe before her body was discovered and identified.

Wielzen, 17 at the time of the crime, was charged in June 2018, transferred to adult court in September 2018 and then was indicted in July on the charges, records show.

Shari Tayloe, deputy district attorney for the 10th Judicial District and one of the original prosecutors on the case, said Tuesday that the presiding judge in the case, Sandra Donaghy, anticipates the trial continuing into next week.

The trial could go into Saturday, but then jurors likely will be off Sunday and Monday with the trial reconvening next Tuesday, according to Tayloe.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Steve Crump and assistant district attorneys Paul Moyle and Coty Wamp will prosecute the case, said Tayloe, who since has been assigned to another case.

Court records obtained by the Times Free Press detail allegations and include statements collected while the incident was investigated as a juvenile case. The hearing led Juvenile Court Judge R. Wylie Richardson to transfer Wielzen's case to adult court.

photo This is a picture of Kelsey N. Burnette, 18, of Etowah. She was found dead in a residential yard on Charles Street in Etowah on July 4, 2017.

On June 30, 2017, Burnette and Wielzen were among several others, including Burnette's boyfriend, who attended a party at a home on Athens Pike in Etowah, court records state. By 5 a.m. the next day, July 1, 2017, only four people remained at the home including Wielzen, Burnette, her boyfriend and another male.

Burnette's boyfriend was asleep in Burnette's car, the other male was asleep on the couch inside the home and Wielzen "was awake and walking around the house," court records state. Wielzen's "own statement places himself as the last person to be with Ms. Burnette at the house on the morning of July 1 before she went missing."

Etowah police detective Jim Shaw testified during a 2018 hearing about recovering a metal baseball bat from the yard where the party was held and other party attendees testified during the hearing that the bat was "kept at the house, and generally stayed out on the front porch," records state. TBI analysis of the bat since its recovery showed blood on it matched Burnette's DNA.

The final autopsy report described Burnette's assault as "brutal" and showed fragments of her skull contained remnants of red and black paint officials said was consistent with the paint on the recovered bat. Burnette "was likely beaten to death using the baseball bat," according to court documents. The main cause of her death was blunt-force head trauma including "multiple severe blows to the head," and she had a "penetrating wound" on her left arm, documents state. The autopsy also showed Burnette had injuries the pathologist said were "evidence of sexual assault," records state.

The indictment charging Wielzen alleges he was armed with a knife during the assault.

Court documents also state that some evidence in the case might be missing, but it's unclear what that might mean for Wielzen's trial.

Lawyers for the parties in the case told Juvenile Judge Richardson "that some evidence collected during the investigation could not presently be located by some members of the investigation," documents state. "The State advised the court that it would continue to search for the evidence and would advise counsel for Defendant in the event that it is located.

"This Court recognizes that the ability of the State to provide said evidence to the defense could have a significant impact on the outcome of this cause," documents state.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.

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