The Garden City Telegram

 Email this story | Add Your Comment  | Read (1) Comments

Retrial begins in murder case

Published 4/8/2008 in News : Area coverage

By RACHEL DAVIS

rdavis@gctelegram.com

JOHNSON CITY -- Questions of opportunity and motive to commit the murder of a Stanton County man were argued Monday in front of a jury, marking the first day of the retrial of husband and wife Chad and Shannon Floyd.

The Floyds are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the killing of 27-year-old Michael Golub, Shannon Floyd's ex-boyfriend, in May 2005.

Richard Guinn, lead prosecutor assigned to the case through the Kansas State Attorney General's Office, said in his opening statement that the Floyds wanted Golub out of the picture because they wanted to leave the area and move to Montana, Shannon Floyd's home state.

He said the motive for killing Golub stemmed from a custody battle between Golub and Shannon Floyd over their son, Mikey.

In August 2004, Shannon Floyd had filed a motion to modify the child support Golub had been paying from $159 a month, when he wasn't employed, to a higher amount because he had landed a good-paying job.

In October 2004, Golub filed a motion to modify residential custody and/or clarify visitation, which Guinn claimed would be detrimental to the Floyds' plans of leaving the state.

"Chad and Shannon Floyd had a motive, a plan and the opportunity to kill Michael Golub, and on May 20, 2005, that's what they did," Guinn said in his statement.

Accusations

Guinn said the Floyds allegedly hatched a murder plot with Internet research from their home computer that included search engine queries on phrases such as "contract killer," "hit man," "decapitation," "sugar in gas tank" and "pipe bomb," accordinig to what was gleaned from the computer during an investigation.

Guinn said to further the plot, the couple made a false representation with the First National Bank, a bank managed by Floyd family members, to sell a bank share for $50,000 to another relative. The $50,000 was to be used to pay Golub off in exchange for relinquishing his parental rights.

The money was then sent to Western State Bank in Ulysses and an account opened under the full name of Golub and Floyd's son.

Guinn said Shannon Floyd then wrote a check from her First National Bank account in Johnson City May 6, 2005, payable to Michael Golub for $49,000, but the check was never endorsed though it had cleared the bank.

"They wanted everyone to assume Golub took the money and left town," Guinn said. "But in actuality, they spent all the money on themselves."

Guinn said Golub disappeared May 20, 2005, in Stanton County on his way to pick up his son from the Floyd residence.

However, defense attorneys Dan Monnat and Kurt Kerns, of Wichita, argued Golub never went to the Floyd home to pick up his son and drove past the Floyd residence to go into town the night he disappeared.

They said their clients have been unfairly targeted and that everyday activities were taken out of context.

"Chad and Shannon Floyd are innocent but they are here because of an investigation done backwards," Monnat said in his opening statement.

Kerns backed up Monnat in his opening statement through a timeline of events involving Chad and Shannon Floyd.

He said the night of Golub's disappearance, Shannon Floyd had made plans to go out with friends to Ulysses and Chad was to watch his and Shannon's son, Keaton.

Kerns said during the course of the day, Golub called Shannon Floyd at 4:52 p.m. to tell her he was running late.

Kerns said Shannon Floyd asked Golub to come by her house to pick up Mikey since it was on his way home.

But Guinn stated the two had such animosity toward one another that they regularly used a convenience store in Johnson City as a neutral zone for Golub to pick up his son. Guinn said Shannon Floyd's request was a ruse to lure Golub to the Floyd residence where they shot and killed him.

Guinn said the couple disposed of his body and it never has been found, though authorities speculate Golub was killed between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. that night.

The timeline

But Monnat said the Floyds could not have killed Golub because it was impossible for them to be in two places at one time.

The prosecution and defense agreed Golub called Shannon Floyd two times the night he disappeared, once at 4:52 p.m. and the second at 6:03 p.m. when Golub called to tell Shannon Floyd he had to run into town first.

But Kerns said, according to phone records, Golub received an incoming call at 7:31 p.m. from a co-worker, Kevin Koroshec. He said the conversation between the two lasted four minutes so Golub could not have been murdered between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Floyd residence.

Kerns said that while Shannon Floyd was waiting for Golub to arrive at the house, Chad Floyd and co-worker Jason Rios were unplugging irrigation lines and helping replace a flat tire on a pivot arm. The men were working alongside Teeter Irrigation employees to replace the tire in a nearby field.

"If they had shot and killed Michael Golub, someone would have heard the shots," Monnat said. "No one heard any shots that night."

Monnat stated the Floyds had no motive to kill Golub because his child custody motion was groundless.

He said a court would not take a child away from a family where he was well taken care of and the mother stayed at home to be placed in a home where the father worked 14-hour shifts and the child would spend more time with a baby-sitter than anyone else.

"It's circumstantial evidence in a bodiless case," Monnat told the jury. "No motive. Shannon and Chad weren't going to lose Mikey. No opportunity to kill Golub. The prosecutor is asking you to bring back a conviction based on speculation."

The prosecution was scheduled to begin its first day of testimony this morning.

Welcome!    

Today's events •  Weekly Events

Submit An Event

Telegram Featured Video