YULEE, Fla. — A defendant known for noisy courtroom outbursts spoke calmly in court Tuesday, asking the judge to appoint a new attorney.
Kimberly Kessler, 53, is charged with first degree murder in the May 2018 disappearance and presumed death of Joleen Cummings, a 36-year-old Yulee hairstylist.
Kessler's mental health has been a recurring issue in the case, in part because of her continued disruptive behavior. She's been removed from the past several hearings, allowed to watch proceedings only via remote video.
On Tuesday, just days before her trial begins, Judge James Daniel brought Kessler into a nearly empty courtroom, where she spoke for several minutes, saying her attorneys told lies about her mental state. She contends that state prosecutors provide better legal representation than her defense team because they have argued she is not mentally impaired. In fact, prosecutors argue she is more cunning than incompetent.
Judge Daniel agrees with that view, and has previously ruled that although Kessler may be a psychopath, she is competent to stand trial.
Daniel ultimately denied her request Tuesday, at which point Kessler again began yelling her oft-repeated assertion that her former attorney Jordan Beard (who no longer handles the case) is related to the victim, Joleen Cummings (a claim the judge has determined is without merit).
At that point she was removed from court.
A full transcript of the interaction is below:
JUDGE DANIEL Ms. Kessler, I'm bringing you back because ...
KESSLER ‘Cause you like me? Thanks I’m flattered.
JUDGE DANIEL Well, alright, Miss Kessler. You've been disruptive and I've not been able to ask you questions, so it's been hard for me to act on anything that you requested of the court.
JUDGE DANIEL Sir, back whenever we had Jordan Beard sit next to me supposedly represent me, I gave him a chance and he shot it. And that was earlier this year, I think maybe February. Let's just replay that video. And we can discuss that. That'll answer all your questions. You have a question? I’ll just point to the video, say right there, right there, right there.
JUDGE DANIEL Well we’re not going back to the video but ma’am but, at this point in time, are you asking for new counsel?
KESSLER I've been asking for new counsel. I didn't say anything whenever Jordan was sitting next to me as I'm not allowed to supposedly speak because I have someone sitting next to me. So I waited months and months and months, months. And I'm mentally …
JUDGE DANIEL Alright, so that that is the basis for why you are asking for new counsel?
KESSLER Um, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everything, the majority, I wouldn't say everything he said that day but many of the things that he said that day were absolutely false. They could easily be proved they were false. They had -- I'm not going to use any adjectives to describe these people sitting here -- but the one in the middle just shooting off her mouth, saying, “Go Jordan, go!”
And I’m like oh my God what he’s saying is wrong. But I felt that if I said anything, it would be contempt of court, because that's what I learned at Florida State Hospital, that we can't speak. So, I'm like, “Well, maybe I'll get a chance to speak later.” And I never got the chance. And now I'm talking.
JUDGE DANIEL OK, so is there any other specific reason why you would like to have new counsel appointed?
KESSLER I want to replay the video, and we can go over that. Because everything -- again, I don't wanna say everything, but many of the things he stated were incorrect. And I had, mainly, the one in the middle, like shooting off her mouth, saying, “Go Jordan, go!” over stuff that is completely fictitious.
JUDGE DANIEL Alright. Counsel, do you know what she is referring to?
KESSLER Nobody wants to bring up the video. [Unintelligible]
PUBLIC DEFENDER I do not know. Other than Mr. Beard did represent her during one of the competency proceedings.
JUDGE DANIEL I know Mr. Beard represented her a while back. But that's that is that ended, I guess, many many months ago.
KESSLER Right. It wasn’t many months ago.
JUDGE DANIEL So is there any other reason why you believe that I shouldn't appoint new counsel for you?
KESSLER That was for that wasn't so much [unintelligible] competency hearing as we had Dr. [Graham] Danzer up there on a stand, who was also advocating for me to have other counsel.
JUDGE DANIEL Alright.
KESSLER And he sat there, Jordan sat there, of the many things that he said, he said I did drugs. I don't do drugs. He said I do crystal meth -- I’ve never done that before for my life. He said at Florida State Hospital that I refused to bathe, and I refused to accept this [unintelligible] soap that’s provided to everybody. No -- the [unintelligible] soap was not provided everybody, it’s only provided to us once a day. And I received it happily every day, and sometimes asked for more because I didn’t get quite enough to like wash from head to toe with it.
So, it's just like stupid. Some of these like small lies that are -- but it's just it's ridiculous. Trying to prove that I was incompetent. He was fighting against me trying to say I was incompetent. Probably the most I've been represented was probably during that court date. Oh -- the prosecution! Yeah, they did a great job. You know, “like she seems competent to me, she made her car payment on time she even paid [unintelligible], blah blah blah blah blah.” You know, that's probably the best I've ever been represented thus far has been by the prosecution.
JUDGE DANIEL All right.
KESSLER Yeah!
JUDGE DANIEL Well, thank you. Miss Kessler. I have heard what you said. I do not find that those are adequate grounds in which to appoint new counsel for you. Counsel, from my perspective, has been effective. They’ve filed numerous motions and advocated on your behalf. Many of the things that you have stated here simply are not factually correct. And so I'm denying your request. Alright, so we go forward with counsel here at the table, or you do have the right to represent yourself.
KESSLER Oh, yeah. Back to that again. Want to put me through law school for eight years and once I passed the bar exam, sure. I'll be more than happy to do that.
JUDGE DANIEL Well, your counsel is there then, unless you want to represent yourself all right? We're going to proceed forward.
KESSLER OK, you’re fired! All you are fired. There you go – and I’ll just yell: Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! And you knew it too. Jordan… And I gave him a chance. My mom laughed in my face she was like: “Why would you have, you know about a cousin, why would you even trust [unintelligible] he’ll do a good job?” Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin! Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin!
JUDGE DANIEL Alright, while they're taking Ms. Kessler back down to the holding cell, where she will, again, have video and audio to view the proceedings, I want to stay for the record that I was in the process of moving to a Faretta inquiry, when she said that counsel were fired. I was prohibited from doing that because she began screaming again and had to be removed from the courtroom.
I believe, based on that, that she's not [unitelliglble] to comport herself properly here in court -- not willing to comport herself in the proper manner -- that counsel will still continue to represent it. So at this point in time, we have a number of motions that we need to address counsel.
TERI SOPP Yes, Judge. We believe that the statements are clearly indicate her incompetence to proceed. And we raise that issue again. She is confused about who is representing her. She is confused about the job that counsel is doing. She believes the prosecution represents her, which is a completely inadequate understanding of the process of the judicial system. I believe that it's clear from her most recent statements in court that she does not have a competent understanding of the judicial system, the process, does not have the ability to, in any way consult with counsel to adequately prepare for a defense in this case -- which we believe we have a good defense in this case, but we cannot communicate with Ms. Kessler in that regard. As you can see, she is somewhat completely delusional about the facts, the previous facts of the case. I never sat in the middle of the table, at a chair in the middle of the table, and said or screamed or yelled “Go Jordan, go!” as Ms. Kessler recounts. Her understanding of what has happened here in court in the past, and in the present, clearly evidences her incompetence to proceed.
And I think that at least three out of the six factors in the competency statute are evidenced by her behavior within the last 15 minutes here in court. And I would ask again that you that you find her incompetent to proceed and commit her for involuntary hospitalization and competency restoration.
JUDGE DANIEL Does counsel wish to be heard on this ore tenus motion
PROSECUTOR DONNA THURSTON What I heard her was say that she is not incompetent. She was unhappy with the Public Defender's Office for presenting her as incompetent. She did not say she was represented by the prosecution, but that the prosecution did a better job in showing that she was competent. Her behavior I thought in court this afternoon shows just how willful her disruptions are. She was able to talk and I don't want to say threaten, but gave some coercive in terms about what she wanted from the court, and when she doesn’t get what she wanted, she said okay, I'll start yelling again. And so I do not think that there's been any change of circumstances to necessitate a question about her competence.
JUDGE DANIELS Alright. Thank you, counsel. Both sides, I am denying the motion.