Jury Convicts Columbia Falls Man of Ex-wife’s Hit-and-run Death
The Flathead County jury delivered the verdict on Monday night following the six-day negligent homicide trial of Kenneth James Floyd, 40
By Maggie Dresser
A Flathead County jury on Monday evening found 40-year-old Kenneth James Floyd guilty of negligent homicide in the June 2023 death of his ex-wife, 37-year-old Kimberly Gilham, who he ran over with his pickup truck in Martin City. He was also found guilty of a felony count of leaving the scene of a vehicle accident involving serious injury or death to another person and a third felony count of tampering with physical evidence.
The verdict came in at about 8 p.m. following a six-day trial and nearly six hours of jury deliberation. Flathead County District Court Judge Dan Wilson revoked Floyd’s bail, and he was remanded to the custody of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 9 a.m.
Judge Wilson presided over the Flathead County District Court trial that began Oct. 27.
A handful of individuals sat in the gallery to hear the verdict, which was met with little reaction.
Closing arguments ended on Monday afternoon, with Montana Department of Justice Assistant Attorneys Eric Kitzmiller and Ed Hirsch maintaining that evidence and testimony proved Floyd struck Gilham with his Chevy Silverado during the early morning hours of June 18, 2023, then skipped town and destroyed physical evidence in the process.
“All of that indicates that Mr. Floyd negligently caused the death of Kimberly Gilham by driving his truck over her body while she was there in the alley that morning – that Mr. Floyd knew he ran over Kimberly causing her serious bodily injury or death and he failed to remain at the scene of where he ran over her with his truck,” Kitzmiller said.
Kitzmiller argued that Floyd was “willing to do and say whatever he could to avoid responsibility for killing Kimberly” and that he provided inconsistent testimony.
According to Floyd’s testimony, the defendant and Gilham had plans to reconcile; however, that story was unsupported by evidence presented to the jury, prosecutors said.
Kitzmiller also highlighted Floyd’s interview with detectives, which revealed that he changed his story after learning there was video footage that did not corroborate with his original statements.
“The evidence in this case for Mr. Floyd makes absolutely no sense,” Kitzmiller said. “It’s flatly contradicted by the video evidence and contradicted by the physical evidence observed in the alley on the body cams and on the photographs and on the drag marks. And his own testimony is inconsistent with his prior statements.”
Defense attorneys Jami Rebsom and Suzanne Malloy maintained throughout the trial that Floyd did not run over his ex-wife with his pickup truck and instead blamed her current husband, Chris Gilham, who they said was jealous because the defendant and Kimberly were having an affair.
“Who’s upset with Kimberly? Who has the motive? It’s Christopher. He’s upset. She’s drinking and she shouldn’t be. [He’s] catching her with Ken again,” Rebsom said.
Rebsom also argued that law enforcement conducted an incomplete investigation when they chose not to include Chris as a suspect or process his vehicle as evidence.
“There is way more than reasonable doubt in this case,” Rebsom said. “There is evidence that Christopher Gilham struck his wife. As a result, we ask you to go back, look at those photographs, look at those injuries, look at Christopher Gilham’s vehicle, and find Ken not guilty of all three charges.”