Former girlfriend testifies in Kalispell man's murder trial

Testimony from a murder victim’s former girlfriend highlighted the second day of a homicide trial Tuesday in Kalispell.

Leigh Garrett Medina, 43, of Kalispell, is on trial for the murder of 67-year-old Paul David Kellenberger.

Prosecutors allege Medina used a cement brick to kill Kellenberger in his home on Lenwood Lane on the afternoon of Monday, July 15, 2019. Medina has been in the Flathead County Detention Center on $500,000 bail since his arrest later that day.

Tuesday morning, Kellenberger’s girlfriend, Cindy Pyles, spoke about her relationship to the victim and Medina after questioning by Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner.

“In 2019, I was doing meth, heroin, alcohol, basically everything you could get,” Pyles said. “Dave did a little bit, but not like I did.”

She said Kellenberger sold drugs to Medina and a small group of people to supplement his income.

“Leigh had asked David and I if he could put a tent up in the backyard because he was homeless because he had tried to murder his girlfriend and she kicked him out,” Pyles said.

That brought Medina’s defense attorneys Jay Reno and Amanda Gordon out of their seats while objecting to Pyles’ statement.

Reno requested a bench conference with Flathead District Court Judge Dan Wilson and attorneys on both sides convened to discuss Pyles’ statement.

After five minutes, Wilson told the jurors Pyles’ testimony was improper and it was stricken from the record. He also instructed the jurors to not consider the specific statement when they begin deliberating the case.

The judge also admonished Pyles and told her to not make editorial comments.

The lunch break came next and Pyles returned to the stand to continue her testimony after the break.

She said Medina paid $50 a month to have a tent in the backyard of Kellenberger’s home. When Ahner asked her if she knew if Medina had been asked to leave Kellenberger’s property, she said she didn’t know.

THE CROSS examination by Reno explored the violence in the relationship between the victim and Pyles. She said they fought over drug use and they got physical.

“I probably egged it on and if he hit me, I’d call the police and he’d get a domestic. But, yes he did hit me,” Pyles said.

Pyles also described Kellenberger as kind, loving and giving to others.

When Ahner asked her about Medina, she said she feared him the first time she met him. She described a scene where a man named “Joe,” along with Medina and her were at a residence.

“All night, Joe was telling Leigh to get a hooker and to call his mom and Leigh was getting mad,” Pyles said. “Joe then left, I was scared and barricaded myself in a bedroom.”

Pyles also said Medina told her he had attacked his girlfriend, Tamara Curran, within weeks of having to put a tent in the backyard of the Lenwood Lane residence where Kellenberger lived.

Curran then testified about her relationship with Medina and of finding a shirt with blood on it that police believe Medina wore when he allegedly killed Kellenberger.

“We met through Ray of Hope (a homeless shelter). We were friends for about a year before we began dating,” Curran said. “I love Leigh unconditionally and visit him every weekend.”

Flathead County Deputy Attorney Andrew Clegg asked Curran about their relationship and she said it was “rough” during the time of the homicide.

“I kicked him out a month before it happened and I heard he might have a tent in the backyard, but I’m not sure,” Curran said.

ON THE day of the murder, Curran testified Medina had come to her apartment because they were going to have dinner.

“He was acting normal and gave me a kiss on the cheek,” Curran said. “He had a black bag he left inside and I thought his tools were inside.”

Curran said after Medina had been arrested by the Flathead County SWAT team, she looked inside the bag and saw a shirt that she thought had blood on it. She called the police and two officers collected the bag and shirt.

A third witness, Thaddeus Brown, described the scene at Lenwood Lane when he arrived there after Kellenberger had been assaulted.

“I went there to get weed killer and I found him lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor,” Brown said. “I saw a tall man going out of the yard and getting into a truck.

“He told me ‘You ain’t seen nothing, you ain’t seen nothing,’” Brown said.

The trial, which is scheduled for five days, is expected to resume Wednesday morning.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.