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Ronnie Lee Kimble 

                                                  

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Helen Coble, Witness for the State


 

MR. PANOSH: Mrs. Coble, please.

HELEN COBLE, being first duly sworn, testified as follows during DIRECT EXAMINATION by MR. PANOSH:

Q    Would you state your name, please.

A    Helen Coble.

Q    Ms. Helen Coble, where do you live?

A    5440 N.C. 22, Pleasant Garden.

Q    And you say "N.C.," you're talking about Highway 22?


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A    Yes, sir, I am.

Q    Do you know the location on Brandon Station Court where this fire occurred back on October the 9th?

A    Yes, I do.

Q    And that's fairly close to your house; is that right?

A    Pretty well close, yes.

Q    On that day, October the 9th of 1995, you found out about the fire when you heard the fire trucks; is that right?

A    That's right.

Q    Okay. And after that, the sheriff's officers came out and investigated you; is that right?

A    That's right. Uh-huh.

Q    They asked you questions about what you heard that day?

A    That's right. Uh-huh.

Q    Did you hear anything unusual on that day?

A    No, I didn't.

Q    And you live at that residence with your husband, George; is that right?

A    Repeat that, please.

Q    You live there with your husband?

A    Yes, I do, uh-huh.

Q    Were you and your husband burning trash that day?

A    No, we wasn't.

MR. PANOSH: No further questions. Thank you,


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ma'am.

CROSS-EXAMINATION by MR. HATFIELD:

Q    Ms. Coble, do you live in the house basically behind Patricia Kimble's house?

A    Well, there's a field and some woods between us.

Q    And the field's owned by you and your husband, isn't it?

A    I can't hear you too good.

Q    I'm sorry.

A    Uh-huh.

Q    The field belongs to you and your husband, doesn't it?

A    Yes, uh-huh.

Q    And there is a road for tractors and garden equipment

A    Yes, that's right.

Q    -- that runs along the edge of that --

A    Uh-huh.

Q    -- road; isn't that right? Is that -- am I right about that? Don't you have a road, a dirt road?

A    Oh, yes, we do, uh-huh.

Q    And the dirt road goes between your -- you and your husband's field --

A    That's right.

Q    -- and the --

A    Uh-huh.


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Q    -- land owned by Patricia Kimble; is that correct?

A    Yes, we do, uh-huh.

Q    And you and your husband have a shed, like a tobacco barn, back on the corner of your property, don't you?

A    That doesn't belong to us, the tobacco barn doesn't.

Q    Okay. Don't you have a utility shed or a –

A    We have a barn.

Q    A barn?

A    Almost down to the railroad tracks.

Q    Now, isn't it a fact that you and your husband heard gunshots from time to time in that area?

A    At times, we did, but we didn't think it was anything to have sound like -- kind of sound like a -- they was just practicing, you know, I mean, target shooting.

Q    Do you know who the people were who were -‑

A    No -‑

Q    -- doing that?

A    -- I do not know who was doing it.

Q    And didn't you also have trouble with people using your barn without your permission?

A    Well, they would go over across the railroad in cars and come out, and we wouldn't know who they were.

Q    That happened all the time, didn't it?

A    Well, off and on, yes, uh-huh.

Q    Now, did your husband finally put a wire or a chain up


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across your dirt road, to keep --

A    He put a "No Trespassing" sign up, yes, uh-huh.

Q    And did that help any?

A    It -- yes, uh-huh.

Q    Now, you never knew Patricia Kimble, did you?

A    Sir?

Q    Did you know Patricia Kimble?

A    I met each one of them one time. That's all.

Q    You --

A    We didn't really know them.

Q    Okay. So you met Theodore Kimble, also?

A    Met who?

Q    Did you meet her husband, Theodore?

A    Yes, one time.

Q    And what was the circumstances of that?

A    He wanted to know who owned some land across the railroad.

Q    Were you able to tell him?

A    Yes, we told him.

MR. HATFIELD: Thank you very much.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION by MR. PANOSH:

Q    Ma'am, did any of that stuff that Mr. Hatfield made reference to --

MR. HATFIELD: Objection to --

THE COURT: Sustained.


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MR. HATFIELD: -- characterizing it -‑

THE COURT: Sustained.

Q    Did any of the events that Mr. Hatfield made reference to, did that happen on October the 9th, the day of the fire?

A    Happen when?

Q    The day that you heard the fire trucks going to Patricia Kimble's house?

A    It was that night when the house was on fire, we heard the fire trucks going in.

Q    But Mr. Hatfield made reference to people going across your land. Was that on the same day?

A    No, no, it wasn't, uh-huh.

MR. PANOSH: No further questions.

THE COURT: Step down, ma'am. Watch your step. You may step down. Ms. Coble, you may step down.

(The witness left the witness stand.)

 

 

Published August 15, 2006.  Report broken links or other problems.

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