LUBBOCK, Texas — Opening arguments were Tuesday in the trial of Kody Climer. Specifically, he was indicted for murdering his mother, Linda Wilhite, on August 14, 2016, but a body was never found.
Attorneys for the prosecution and defense picked a jury on Monday consisting of five men and seven women. On Tuesday, Climer was asked to enter a plea, and he emphatically said, “I am not guilty!”
In opening arguments, prosecutors said to the jury, “We are here because in August of 2016, this defendant murdered his mother.”
“Her son [Climer] lived with her,” prosecutors said. “We found blood, her car, but not the body or [Climer].”
“You will see what this defendant did before anyone knew the mother was missing,” proctors said. “He had access to her car, her money, and [there was] blood in the back of the car.”
“You will have no reasonable doubt.”
But an attorney for the defense said, “There are so many holes in the State’s case. I don’t know how they’re going to prove their case.”
“We need someone to blame, we need closure, it’s human nature,” the defense said. “Kody [Climer] did not stab his mother, strike his mother, or cause her to strike an object.”
The defense also said there were bloody fingerprints that police did not process.
Lubbock Police and the Lubbock Fire Department entered Wilhite’s home on 38th Street near Ironton to perform a welfare check, officials said. Police immediately treated the situation as a homicide because of a large amount of blood found in the home.
Climer was arrested a few days later on an unrelated charge. He was later indicted for murder. The trial continues in State District Court in Lubbock.
