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Little damaging evidence presented against accused’s daughterBY CINDY CARSONStaff ReporterAlthough Madison County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bryan Williams believes Kimberly (Robinette) Sheets helped her mother get into a house to commit murder, he presented little damaging evidence Wednesday.Sheets, 29, is charged with aiding, inducing or causing murder and burglary in the Sept 6,1998, murder of Michael Gougeon. Sheets’ mother, Glenda Gail Robinette, was found guilty of killing Gougeon by shooting him in the chest several times.Gougeon was sleeping beside Car rie Sherman at about 1:50 am in her home at 2325 lincoln St when thedefendant’s mother appeared beside the bed and began whispering Sher man’s name.When Gougeon got out of bed, Robinette shot him. Robinette then forced Sherman out of the house and into a car. She eventually stopped dri ving and made Sherman get into the trunk of the vehicle, a car she later abandoned at Warren Miller Park on Fairview Street with Sherman still locked in the trunk.Sherman was rescued that morning when a passer-by called Ander son police to the scene.She told jurors that Sheets had been with her mother on more than one occasion when Gail Robinettedrove to Sherman’s home to talk to Gougeon, her former boyfriend. Sherman said the two women remained in the car and the conversations didn’t appear to be heated.Sherman said that before she andGougeon went to bed that night, she checked to make sure both the front and back doors were locked. She also said that it was possible a window with a screen might have been open because the September night was warm. When Robinette marched her out of the house at gunpoint, Sherman had to unlock the back door.Sherman said that when she was allowed to return home two days after the murder, she noticed marks and indentations around the knob on the back door of her home, marks she pointed out to a police officer. There also was a brick below the kitchen window that was not there before the murder, she said. Her son had often popped the screen out andcrawled into the house through the window.“On that night, when |RobineUej woke you up and shot Michael, didyou see Kim? asked defense* attor ney Robert Beyrner.“No, I did not,” Sherman said.She said she didn’t see the defendant in the house on the way out the back door or in the car Robinette forced her into.Anderson police Sgt. Gary Thomas was the first to arrive at Sherman’s home and said he found the front door locked before forcing it openAnd Detective Michael lee, who isassigned to the police lab, said he helped search the house inside and out and found no evidence showing someone might have tried to pry open the back door As the finger print expert for the department, Let* using a brush and finely ground volcanic powder, found a partial print on the kitchen window sill and a palm print on the chest freezer under the window, a prim good enough for comparison, lee told jurors that on Wednesdaymorning before trial began, he lingerpnnted Sherman to compare the palm prints.They did not match A former friend, BrendaMcConnell, told jurors that after the murder, she visited Sheets and askedif she had been involved in the killing.“She didn’t say nothing,” McConnell said. “She looked out the window and then dow n at the dash. She didn't say yes or no ’The defendant’s mother will tesli fy this morning in Superior C ourt 1.
Newspaper Details
Anderson Herald Bulletin
Anderson, Indiana, US
Thu, Jun 22, 2000
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Monroe C.
IN, USA 03 Feb 2021
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