Michael Kenneth Hinners, 59, is charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of his brother, Anthony Hinners. Hinners has pleaded not guilty to the charge, but admits that he did shoot his brother in front of Michael Hinners’ home in Pomeroy on April 9, 2022.

Late last month, Michael Hinners waived his right to a jury trial, and his bench trial in front of District Court Judge Derek Johnson began Wednesday morning.

“We are here to tell the story of two brothers,” Calhoun County Attorney Tina Meth-Farrington said in her opening arguments. “It was a beautiful spring day in April when two brothers were visiting friends, walking around South Twin Lake and returning home … They started to argue over a dead battery in a car that was in the driveway.”

The argument escalated and got louder and louder, Meth-Farrington said, “Until one brother went into his house, retrieved a shotgun and fatally shot his brother.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Calhoun County Sheriff's Deputy Jason McKenney examines the shotgun that defendant Michael Hinners allegedly used to shoot and kill his brother, Anthony Hinners, during an argument at a residence in Pomeroy in April 2022. Michael Hinners' murder trial began Wednesday in Rockwell City.

During the defense’s opening arguments, attorney Christopher Kragnes said that Anthony Hinners’ death was a “tragic, unfortunate accident.” He said the defense doesn’t contest the facts of the case — that Michael shot Anthony — but it contests the crime Michael Hinners was charged with.

Kragnes told the court that the state has no evidence of any of the elements needed to prove first-degree murder, including willfulness, malice aforethought, deliberation and premeditation.

On April 11, Hinners’ attorneys filed a notice of intent to rely on a defense of intoxication at trial. Four hours after the shooting, law enforcement conducted a blood alcohol test on Michael Hinners, Kragnes said in his openings. At that time, his blood alcohol content was 0.238.

On Wednesday morning, the court heard from the only other eyewitness to the shooting, neighbor Raymond Chick. Chick’s home is located across the street from Michael Hinners’ home and Chick testified that he considered both Hinners brothers his friends.

Chick testified that the day of the shooting, he was inside his home watching TV when Michael Hinners knocked on his door to borrow something to get a car battery started. Chick brought his large battery charger across the street when an argument between the brothers began.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Pomeroy Police Chief Lori Gerdes testifies during the murder trial of Michael Hinners at the Calhoun County Courthouse on Wednesday morning. Gerdes was the first officer on the scene after Hinners shot his brother, Anthony Hinners, in April 2022.

“They were bickering, like brothers do,” Chick testified.

He said that the bickering started to escalate and get “quite loud” until “all hell broke loose.”

Chick testified that he didn’t actually see the gun or see the defendant shoot the victim, but he did see a “puff of smoke” come from the front door of the home and then Anthony Hinners “dropped like a rock” where he was standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the home’s front door.

“I seen him go down,” Chick said. “I figured he got shot.”

Michael Hinners then told him to call for help because he had accidentally shot his brother, Chick testified. He also testified that on the day of the shooting, Michael Hinners had been “as drunk as he’s ever seen him.”

The argument between the brothers only lasted about three or four minutes, Chick said. Michael was telling Anthony to move the car up the driveway so the extension cord to the battery charger could reach, but Anthony was telling Michael that he couldn’t move the vehicle because its battery was dead. Chick testified that, until the gunshot, there was no physical altercation between the brothers — it was just verbal arguing.

Pomeroy Police Chief Lori Gerdes was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the shooting scene. She testified that upon arrival, she began CPR on the victim while trying to get Michael Hinners to tell her what happened and where the gun was. She said that the defendant was not cooperating and the only information she had received from dispatch was that someone had been shot, so her two priorities were to try to save the victim’s life and to keep the scene safe. By the time the second officer on scene arrived, Gerdes was attempting CPR with one hand, while searching Michael Hinners’ coat pockets as he was laying or sitting on the ground next to his injured brother.

Gerdes, as well as two Calhoun County sheriff’s deputies, testified that they asked Michael Hinners multiple times about the location of the gun. Each time, they said, his answer was some variation of, “(obscenity) the gun, get my brother alive.”

When cross-examining the witness, Kragnes asked if at the time of the shooting, did Michael Hinners admit it was an accident, did he stay on the scene and not try to leave, and was he concerned about keeping his brother alive? Gerdes testified affirmatively to all of these questions.

Calhoun County Deputy Jason McKenney was the second law enforcement officer to arrive that day. On Wednesday, he testified that Michael Hinners was slurring his words, had trouble getting up from the ground and was very emotional at the time.

Deputy Chase Goodman arrived moments after McKenney and he testified that the defendant had seemed “belligerent, upset, angry.”

“He had lots of emotions going on,” Goodman testified.

Gerdes, McKenney and Goodman all testified that they believed Michael Hinners was intoxicated at the time of the shooting.

McKenney eventually located the 10-gauge shotgun that Michael Hinners had shot at his brother. McKenney said the front door to Michael’s home was shut but not latched and when he pushed it open, the gun was seen leaning against the door jamb of the first interior doorway inside the house. The gun was still loaded with an empty shotgun cartridge, he said, and it was leaning with the buttstock on the ground and the barrel pointing up.

Goodman testified that at the scene, Michael Hinners had indicated that the shotgun was supposed to be unloaded. Earlier testimony showed that the brothers had been out duck hunting on the morning of the shooting.

McKenney testified that he was not wearing gloves at the time, so it was actually Goodman who took the shotgun into evidence. Kragnes used his cross-examination of Goodman to show that the gun was not concealed from anyone walking into the house.

On redirect, Meth-Farrington had Goodman clarify that the gun was found behind a door that had been pulled shut, which then Kragnes pointed out was the home’s front door.