After hearing about a man's death in a Jefferson strip club last month, a judge on Friday ruled that the man charged with the killing must remain in jail.
Scott Meador, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Glen Alfred Carpenter Jr., 50. On Friday, Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman refused to let Meador out of jail to await trial.
Assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Maryclaire Akers told the judge that Carpenter's body was found with 11 stab wounds to his back and additional stab wounds to his face. He was also shot in the head, Akers said, but police didn't realize that until later because there was so much blood.
"It takes thought or some sort of thought process to inflict that kind of damage over and over and over and over again and then to shoot the victim," Akers said, after handing the judge a stack of autopsy photographs.
Meador's attorney, James Cagle, pleaded with the judge on Friday to set a bond amount - even a high one, as Meador's parents, Nancy and Eddie Meador, were willing to use their house as collateral to ensure their son showed up for court.
Cagle called the killing a clear act of self-defense. He called several character witnesses, who told the judge that Meador was a peaceful person.
Meador was at the Foxy Lady club, which was closed at the time, installing a security system. Carpenter was also working at the club at 6907 MacCorkle Ave., his family said Friday.
"It was the Friday before Christmas," Cagle told the judge. "That nasty night when there was ice on the bridge ... snow on the ground. After the incident, this man walked to a place called Grumpy's ... we measured the distance he would've walked, it's right at two miles.
"He walked with one shoe on and one sock, in the snow to report to someone, 'I've been in a fight and I think I've killed a person and you need to call the cops,'" Cagle said. About an hour before police found Carpenter's body, someone called Kanawha Metro 911 dispatchers and said they had seen a man wearing one shoe and covered in blood muttering that he had just killed someone. Those people didn't believe Meador and didn't immediately call 911, Akers said.
"He told them to 'get out of the way of the bus.' They didn't take him serious because there was no bus," Akers said.
Meador was high, possibly from smoking synthetic marijuana, according to Akers.
Cagle told the judge that he believed Carpenter had planned to rob Meador, and he gave Meador "something to smoke." The attorney said Carpenter was "part of a conspiracy to rob my client" and added, "If attacked, he would obviously have a right to self-defense."
Cagle said Carpenter had three felony convictions that involved violence; Akers said she saw two prior felony offenses for Carpenter: harboring a sex offender and fleeing with reckless indifference. She said Meador had been convicted of DUI three times and was charged with malicious wounding in 1998. He ended up pleading guilty to battery.
Meador has worked as a computer programmer, and often worked on computer systems in Putnam Circuit Court, said his former employer, Butch Evans. A friend of Meador's, Lee Lewis, said, "I've never seen him show any anger or aggression toward anyone."
Kaufman denied the request to set bond. He agreed with prosecutors and said the investigation is still at an early stage.
"In these cases, death cases, equal protection principles apply and it's not fair that somebody that has a lot of money is able to meet bond and get out and someone that is poor who doesn't have any money can't get out," the judge said. "Thirty days, sixty days, is not a long time. It's a long time if you're in jail and you're presumed innocent but in the scheme of having a case dismissed or spending life without mercy in prison, thirty days is a reasonably short amount of time to bring a case."
A gasp could be heard from the family and friends of Meador, who filled one side of the courtroom. Carpenter's family members breathed a sigh of relief. One woman began clapping after the judge's ruling, until a relative quickly stopped her.
Carpenter's wife, Mary, stood outside the courtroom and cried. She said that it had bothered her when Cagle brought up her husband's criminal record - even though he apologized before he said it.
"That didn't give him the right to kill him," she said.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.