The trial against double-murder suspect Bobby Spikes—the man charged in the 2021 deaths of Stanley Bussell and Candace Marcel—officially got underway Monday morning in Christian Circuit Court.
A jury was seated in the morning and then open statements happened in the afternoon in the Circuit Courtroom of Judge John Atkins, with special prosecutor Blake Chambers presenting a lengthy opening argument, starting with detailing exactly what it is Spikes is charged with.
He listed several of the witnesses the jury will hear from, including family members, friends and Spikes’ son, Kendall Spikes, who pled guilty to the charges charges of complicity to tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution or apprehension in the first-degree to his role in the events relating to the death of Marcel.
Defense attorney Jason McGee contends that Kendall Spikes’ testimony is questionable, as he was looking to avoid prison, and he argues that the jury will learn there’s no evidence that Bobby Spikes was involved in these deaths at all.
Several witnesses were called in the afternoon, including the best friend of Marcel, who informed the court that Spikes and Marcel had at once time been in a relation, but they would break up in November of 2021. She says that when Marcel had Spikes leave the house, he became threatening and punched someone in the face before leaving.
The defense argues that Marcel and Spikes had broken up several times in the past and gotten back together. Another witness, Marcel and Spikes’ previous neighbor, told the jury of a time where she heard a gun shot come from next door, and then witnessed Spikes drag Marcel across the front yard. She reportedly intervened in that incident, which happened on November 13.
Marcel would be found deceased in a vehicle on a road in Trigg County in December of 2021—the discover of that vehicle would lead to the search of Bussell’s home on Clearman Court in Hopkinsville, where he would be found deceased.
Trial will continue Tuesday morning.