Murder trial begins in Shelton

A man allegedly caught on video surveillance leaving his neighbor’s home holding a gun shortly before the neighbor was found shot to death faces trial this week.

Jury selection and trial proceeding started Tuesday for Shelton resident Jerry Upson, charged with first-degree murder and first-degree unlawful firearm possession in connection with the death of Kenneth D. Simmons.

Upson was seen on surveillance video with a handgun entering and leaving the victim’s home numerous times Oct. 27, 2023, according to the probable cause document filed by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.

Simmons’ brother Martin called police Oct. 28 after driving to Simmons’ house at 990 E. Mikkelsen Road and finding him on the couch “cold to the touch, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head,” the document states.

On Monday, Upson’s attorney Rose Boughton filed a pretrial request, known as a motion in limine, to prohibit testimony from MCSO Detective Dylan Helser regarding the surveillance video.

“On his approach, he’s seen removing an object from his left jacket pocket. Based on my training and experience as a hunter and as a gun enthusiast, I recognized his movement as appearing to be cycling the slide on a semi-automatic handgun. This is a necessary action to load a cartridge from the magazine into the chamber prior to firing. Upson places the object back into his left jacket pocket,” Helser wrote in the probable cause document.

Boughton called Helser’s potential testimony about the video “improper,” according to the motion.

“For a police officer to testify to the above would invade the purview of the jury, who should be able to make the above determinations, and other fact related opinion decisions, themselves. Defense anticipates that the entire security video will come in. For Detective Helser’s testimony, he does not have a special perception that is not available to the jury, and the knowledge is not specialized enough to be expert knowledge,” according to Boughton.

She also asks the court to prohibit speculation about what may be in Upson’s pocket on the surveillance video.

No decision of the motion had been made by the Journal’s press time.