Prosecutor: Murder victim was lured to home

Published 6:30 am Tuesday, January 23, 2018

A prosecutor in the murder trial of Charles “Frankie” McCluskey said Monday that McCluskey told a family member if someone could get the victim to McCluskey’s house, he would kill him.

In an attempt to lure the victim to McCluskey’s home on Zehner Road west of Athens, the prosecutor said McCluskey’s daughter sent text messages to the victim telling him he could find his girlfriend, who had parted with the victim following a fight that morning, at McCluskey’s home.

Limestone County Deputy District Attorney Jim Ayers Jr. made the accusations during his opening statement of the trial Monday in Limestone County Circuit Court.

Athens attorney Lucas Beatty, who is defending McCluskey, said in his opening statement there is no evidence that daughter made contact with the victim in an attempt to lure him to her father’s home.

McCluskey, 46, of 16601 Zehner Road, Athens, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Ronnie Kyle Jr. following an argument at McCluskey’s mobile home in the Clements community on March 4, 2015.

McCluskey, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, has remained free on $30,000 bond since his initial arrest.

The case

On the night of the shooting, Kyle was looking for his girlfriend, Belinda McCluskey, who had been divorced from McCluskey for 10 1/2 years. Kyle and Belinda had argued earlier in the day and Belinda had packed her things and left.

Kyle had driven to McCluskey’s home about 7:24 p.m. to see if Belinda was there. Kyle arrived at the mobile home and repeatedly called for his girlfriend, who was not there.

Sheriff Mike Blakely said McCluskey got his single-barrel, 20-gauge shotgun and walked outside.

McCluskey repeatedly told Kyle to leave and the two began to argue. McCluskey, at some point, fired at Kyle’s windshield, hitting him in the right hand, face and chest. Kyle was declared dead on arrival at Huntsville Hospital. Ayers said the wounds to the chest were lethal.

McCluskey told investigators Kyle was revving his engine and driving forward at him and family members when he fired.

Opening statements

During his opening statement, Ayers said when Kyle arrived at McCluskey’s mobile home to pick up Belinda, who he does not know is not there, an argument ensued and McCluskey struck Kyle with the butt of his shotgun.

Ayers said McCluskey began walking back to his home and telling his family members to get inside. He then fired his shotgun through the windshield of Kyle’s Buick Le Sabre, hit him in the hand, face and chest. Although EMTs tried CPR, Kyle succumbed to his chest wounds and died on the way to the hospital.

“So we will show beyond a reasonable doubt that McCluskey murdered Ronnie Kyle. He had intent to kill based on what he said (that morning) and in actions, he shot him through the chest through his windshield with a shotgun.”

Beatty, in his opening statement, questioned one witness’s credibility, saying the witness was “better known by his AIS number,” the number assigned to prisoners by the Alabama Department of Corrections.

He also said Kyle was in a “drunken state” and “had come to whip someone’s ass and was looking for a woman who wasn’t there.”

Witnesses for prosecution

Prosecutors called three witnesses to the stand Monday afternoon — including Vince Romine, who said he overheard a plot to kill Kyle; Gail Adams, Kyle’s mother; and Justin Vaughn, who provided security at the 13-trailer mobile home park.

Romine said he is currently living in Elmore Correctional Facility, serving three years and eight months of a 13-year sentence for manufacturing methamphetamine. He said he was at the McCluskey home on the day of the shooting.

He testified that the morning before the shooting, McCluskey and other family members had “an ongoing conversation” about Kyle. He claimed McCluskey’s daughter texted Kyle after the conversation, but he did not know if she reached him.

Vaughn read from a statement he provided to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office that said after Kyle was struck by shotgun pellets, he drove about 50 feet before stopping. Vaughn said McCluskey’s daughter then approached the car and said Kyle “got what he deserved for beating on her and her mom.”

The trial resumes Tuesday before Circuit Judge Chadwick Wise.