Tyler Wayne Edmonds was a 13 year-old honor student at his West Point, MS, middle school in May, 2003.  He had no history of violence, gang affiliation or proclivity to anti-social behavior.  Tyler attended his local church regularly and respected adult authority.  Anyone who has ever met Tyler would say he is a sweet, loving kid who likes to help and please others.  Even so, he was arrested and charged with the murder of Joey Fulgham from the Longview Community in Starkville, MS on May 12, 2003.  The arrest was based on a false confession Tyler gave to the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office.  There was no physical evidence showing that Tyler participated in the crime.  The murder occurred during the early morning of Saturday, May 10.  Kristi Fulgham, Tyler’s half-sister and Joey’s ex-wife, admitted to Tyler she killed Joey on Sunday, May 11.  Kristi was 27 years old at the time of the murder.  She told him that the authorities would “kill me” (give her the death penalty) and she would never see Tyler and her three young children again.  Kristi also told Tyler the nothing would happen to him if he confessed to the crime because he was a minor.  He loved and trusted her enough to confess to a murder he did not commit. 

Tyler had a very close relationship with Kristi who had an incredible amount of influence over him.  Both share the same biological Father, Danny Edmonds.  Danny and Tyler’s Mom, Sharon Clay, were divorced in 1993 when Tyler was about 4 years old.  For various reasons, Tyler was not allowed to see Danny after the divorce.  As Tyler grew up, he longed to know his Dad.  Kristi arranged for Tyler to have weekend visits with Danny, unbeknownst to Sharon, between the ages of 12-13.  Kristi’s leveraged Tyler’s covert relationship with Danny as a way to gain further control his mind and heart.  Consistently, she would ask Tyler to lie to Joey and various other boyfriends to cover her tracks during affairs.  Kristi also used Tyler to take care of her kids and clean her home (wherever she was living at the time).  At one point, Kristi convinced Tyler she would be a better parent/guardian for him than Sharon. She took him to the Department of Human Services to obtain custody even though there was no evidence of abuse or neglect by Sharon or Tyler’s stepfather.  One could possibly interpret her relationship with Tyler as a grooming process for another end.  The Fulgham marriage had a long history of marital tumult and domestic violence, which escalated when she disclosed her third child was fathered by Joey’s best friend.  In fact, the Fulghams discussed this topic during an appearance on the “Montel Williams Show” in 2000.  Also, Kristi mistakenly thought she was the beneficiary of Joey’s $300,000 life insurance policy.  Any motivation to harm Joey belonged to Kristi Fulgham.

During the 2003 Mother’s Day weekend, Tyler was supposed to spend the weekend with Danny through Kristi as he had done before.  At that time, Kristi was divorced from Joey.  She had been living with Joey since March, 2003 having lived in Jackson, MS with a boyfriend named Kyle Harvey.  Kristi and her three children had moved back with Joey until she could get her own place.  Joey did not know about Kyle and vice-versa.  Kristi would have Tyler lie for her to cover her tracks with both.  In the weeks preceding that Mother’s Day weekend, she asked Tyler various times to bring over an old .22 caliber rifle.  Kristi said there was a stray dog running around and she wanted to kill it.  Tyler was very reluctant to bring this old gun because he didn’t like the thought of killing the dog.  Tyler’s disposition is non-violent to the point where he and a classmate was known to feed stray cats after school.  Also, during Kristi Fulgham’s 2006 trial, Danny Edmonds testified that Kristi had asked him a week before Joey’s death to provide a gun to kill him.  She also promised Danny part of the life insurance proceeds if he complied.  Kristi kept pressing Tyler over and over to bring the gun and he finally gave in and brought it that weekend.  Although Tyler brought the gun, he was very confident it could not be used due to the gun being in such poor condition.  When Tyler was 12, he was spending a lot of time with his brother Ryan and his cousin Randy. During this time, the boys had been attempting to repair the gun so they could use it for hunting.  In Tyler’s 2004 trial and Kristi’s 2006 trial, Randy testified that Tyler tried to pull back the plunger of the old .22 and was not strong enough to do it.  Ryan had to pull it back for him.  Randy testified in both trials that the plunger was difficult for anyone to pull back.  Randy testified in Tyler’s trial that “He (Tyler) pulled the trigger and acted real scared and then handed the gun.. the .22 back over to his brother and said he wasn’t going to shoot the weapon . .  he wasn’t going to shoot the gun in the house”.  Furthermore, Randy testified that the .22 did not go off when Tyler pulled the trigger.  Finally, during Tyler’s trial, Randy testified “I believe that Tyler would not hurt anybody.  Tyler is a very non-violent person”.  During Kristi Fulgham’s 2006 trial, Randy also testified that Tyler did not like to hunt animals because “animals were too pretty to kill”.  Randy’s testimony clearly showed that while he was pressured into bringing the .22 to shoot the stray dog, Tyler believed it was a non-functioning weapon.  Tyler wanted to mollify Kristi and not aid in the killing of a stray dog.  Randy’s testimony also clearly indicates that Tyler is a non-violent child.

Tyler did not have school on Friday, May 9 and Kristi promised to pick him up after school on Thursday.  She didn’t show up but later promised to pick him up on Friday morning.  Kristi was a no-show again on that Friday because she was in Jackson with Kyle.  So, Tyler spent the better part of Friday calling his Dad’s secretary, hoping his Dad would come get him.  Danny would not comply because he didn’t want to cause a “big deal” with Sharon.  Kristi finally picked him up on Friday afternoon around 4:00 p.m.  They went to Joey’s house where Kristi tried shooting the .22 in the backyard.  The gun would not fire.  Joey came home around 5:00 p.m.  Two of the Fulgham children were picked up by Joey’s ex-Father-in-law around this time.  He lived nearby and the kids often stayed the night with him.  Joey, Kristi, Tyler, and the other child hung out for awhile and then went out to get some Subway sandwiches.  They ate, and Joey went to bed while Kristi spent the evening on the computer.  Tyler laid by Kristi’s feet during this time. Later in the evening, she instructed him to sleep in one of the kid’s beds.  Tyler went to sleep and awoke the next morning around 4:00 a.m. to an alarm Kristi had set.  She told him to gather her child, get in the car, and they would go.  She also told him to put the home computer, excluding the monitor and keyboard, in the trunk.  Although Tyler did not physically see the .22 in the pre-dawn darkness, he thought the .22 rifle was in the front area of the car trunk, since Kristi had put it there after the gun failed to fire on the previous day.  Tyler also thought they were going to his Dad’s house in Columbus, MS.  Tyler put the child in the car, started the engine, played with the radio, and waited.  During that time, he heard a “pop” sound coming from the house.  He thought nothing of it since Kristi had a cat that tended to knock things over around the house.  She came out, closed the trunk, and got in the car.  Kristi gave Tyler a wallet to put in the glove box.  He did as he was told thinking it was Kyle’s.  They picked up the other two kids and took a route that was not the usual way to Danny Edmonds’ house.  Tyler asked Kristi what was going on and she said their plans had changed.  They were picking up Kyle in Jackson and going to Gulfport/Biloxi for the weekend.  Kristi said Danny was ok with it.  Tyler really had no other choice and went along.

They picked up Kyle in Jackson and headed to Biloxi where they checked in at the Beau Rivage.  Kristi paid for it all.  She could afford lodging at a luxury hotel because she had taken over $1,000.00 cash in Joey’s wallet from his recently cashed paycheck.  This was the wallet she gave Tyler in the car.  Tyler had no idea who paid for what because Kyle took care of the check-in transaction at the Beau Rivage.  They spent Saturday at the beach and riding Sea-Doos around the hotel’s waterfront.  The group left on Sunday between Noon-1:30 p.m.  After Kyle was dropped off in Jackson, he received a phone call from Kristi’s former best friend, Sonja.  She told him that Joey has been found dead and not to tell Kristi, as she was driving en route to Starkville.  Regardless, Kyle called Kristi and informed her.  Kristi then received a call from her Mom who asked her to come to her house in Meridian instead of going to Starkville.  Kristi did not tell Tyler about Joey’s death until a few minutes before arrival in Meridian.  He spent some time outside Kristi’s parents’ house playing with the kids while Kristi and her parents talked inside.  After awhile, Tyler went inside and found Kristi crying in a bedroom.  He consoled her, and also cried when Kristi admitted she killed Joey.  She told him that the authorities would “kill me”, take her children away, and he would never see her again.  Kristi then told him that her only way out was for him to confess to the authorities that he killed Joey, telling the boy nothing would happen to him since he was a minor.  Tyler looked at Kristi like she was “crazy” but trusted and loved her enough to comply.  Her first instruction was for Tyler to deny anything happened at all and they knew nothing about Joey’s murder.  If that didn’t work, she would give him a “signal” and he would admit to killing Joey, but say it was an accident.  They spent the night in Meridian.

On Monday, Tyler traveled to West Point with Sonja, who had arrived in Meridian that morning to offer support.  She dropped him off in the late afternoon (around 5:30 p.m.).  Sharon knew Joey was dead but had no idea what really happened and had no reason at that time to suspect Kristi.  The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office called her around 6:00 p.m. and wanted to speak with Tyler.  Both arrived at the Sheriff's office, signed a Miranda waiver, and spoke with the officers.  Sharon had no problem with the police questioning Tyler as long as she was present.  Tyler followed Kristi’s direction and denied knowing anything about Joey’s death.  There was no audiovisual record of this interview.  At the same time, Kristi had been arrested and was sitting in a holding cell onsite.  She had already given a statement indicating Tyler alone had killed Joey.  The officers told Tyler his story didn’t add up because Kristi had told them something different.  At this juncture, an officer asked Sharon to step outside so they could  speak ro Tyler alone and she complied.  During this period, the officers told Tyler that Kristi stated he alone killed Joey.  Tyler said he didn’t believe she would say something like that.  They offered to bring her in to tell Tyler what she had told them.  The officers placed Kristi in a nearby office, moved Tyler to that location, and sat him beside her.  Sharon was not aware Kristi was involved in the interrogation in any way.  While seated next to Tyler, Kristi took his hand, squeezed it, and said “I’ve told the truth and now it’s time for you to tell the truth”. Seemingly, this was the signal she had directed him to follow the previous day.  The exchange lasted 20 seconds and the officers removed her from the room.  This exchange was never allowed as evidence during the trial.  In the least, Kristi’s interaction with Tyler points to a possible coercive influence on the confession that followed.

At this point, Tyler told the officers he would like to give another statement, but he did not want his Momma (Sharon) present.  He wanted to tell her what occurred after speaking to them first.  Tyler knew he couldn’t fulfill Kristi’s request with his Momma present.  The officers brought Tyler out to a break room where Sharon was seated.  They waited together for a time until an officer stood Tyler up and told Sharon he needed to speak with Tyler for “a minute”.  Tyler was then seated back in the original interview room with two officers and signed another Miranda waiver (he was yawning and clearly tired while signing the document).  This interview was videotaped and given at 8:48 p.m.  (Much of this written description of that interview and all interview quotes came from the videotape).  Tyler told them that Kristi had picked him up on Friday, May 10.  He indicated very early in the interview that Kristi had been talking about killing Joey for awhile and said, “She told me about the gun.  I told her I had a gun, but it didn’t work.  It was an old gun and wouldn’t shoot.  I got that (the gun) just to say ‘I tried’, so she’d stop asking me about it.  So it couldn’t hurt (anyone)”.  Tyler said he finally brought the gun on Friday to make her happy.  He told the officers they committed the murder together in the pre-dawn of May 10.  Tyler did not fulfill Kristi’s request by saying he did it alone.  His decision to confess that both of them participated can be interpreted as the mind of a child trying to fulfill Kristi’s immoral and manipulative request while reconciling in his child’s mind that he could never commit such an act alone.

His statement of how the murder occurred is contradictory at best.  Tyler told them during his original confession that they held the gun together and pulled the trigger together.  However, he could never give the officers a clear picture of how the weapon was held by the both of them.  He said, “We went into his room and I didn’t seriously think it would work and she was behind me and she put her hand on the trigger and I put my hand on the trigger.  And she kind of squeezed my hand because we didn’t think it would work.  I was holding the gun like this (indicated the gun butt was on his right shoulder)  . . . and she had her hand on mine.  She had her hand (he looked confused) . . . I knew it was in front of me somehow.  So I just closed my eyes (turned his head to the left) and did it and it went off.  I didn’t actually think it would go off because it was broke”.  An officer asked where the gun came from.  Tyler responded, “It had been in my Dad’s (step-father’s) closet for at least 3 or 4 years.  Nobody ever used it.”  He then said, “We did it and she took the computer and some stuff to make it look . . .”.  An officer asked, “Wait a minute- whenever the shot was fired, was she behind you?  Was she aiming for you”?  Tyler responded, “No.  I don’t guess so.  I was just holding the gun.  I wasn’t really aiming at anything”.  The officer asked, “Did you have it on your shoulder right here”?  Tyler said, “Yeah, I had it right here (indicateds his right shoulder).  I wasn’t really aimin’.  I was just pointin’ it somewhere”.  According to this testimony, Tyler did not know if Kristi was aiming the gun (“I don’t guess so”) and indicated he “wasn’t really aiming at anything”.  The question of who actually aimed the weapon cannot be answered.

From there, an officer asked “And her hand was around in front of you on the trigger?”  Tyler responded with “No, she just had . . .  I guess she was with one hand, I don’t know where her left hand was.  But she had her right hand like right here (he put his hand on his stomach to show this) on my stomach and we did it and then after that I heard it go off and I looked at him (Joey) and saw that it actually hit him”.  In this statement, Tyler said that he had the gun on his right shoulder with his right finger on the trigger, having no idea where Kristi’s left hand was located while her right hand was on his stomach.  Kristi is right-handed.  This scenario is illogical because somehow she helped pull the trigger with her right hand on his stomach and her left hand missing with nobody aiming the gun!

The officers then asked, “Do you know where it hit him?”  Tyler shook his head “no” and looked somewhat confused.  The officer went on to ask, “How do you know that it hit him”?  Tyler responded, “Well, there was like … I saw some blood . . . it was on a pillow I guess . . . somethin’ white.  And there was just some little sprinkles and I thought it was blood and I (inaudible) and I was cryin’.  But I didn’t think you know, it would really go off and I couldn’t believe that I did it.  And then she took stuff to make it look like somebody broke in”.  Crime scene video later indicated the pillow casing and bed sheets were a beige color with patterns, not white.

From there, an officer asked, “She did have her hands on the gun when it went off”?  Tyler replied, “I’m not sure”.  The officer responded, “Not sure”?  Tyler responded with “cause . . . (again, he looked confused and tired)”.  The officer then asked, “When she was standing beside you . . .?”  Tyler responded with, “She was like right here beside me (he takes his left arm/hand and touches his left side)”.  The officer asked, “Did she ever tell you to shoot him or pull the trigger”?  Tyler responded with “She . . .”.  The officer asked, “Did she say anything when she was standing behind you”?  Tyler said, “I don’t know . . . I wasn’t really (he looked unsure, turned his head to the left for a brief moment and then turned his head to the right). . .  I just closed my eyes.  I was just lettin’ everything go . . . not payin’ attention . . . tryin’ to stay out of it”.  This testimony again shows the contradictory, confused nature of his story.  Kristi’s interaction with Tyler during his interrogation and the apparent inconsistencies in his confession point to the distinct possibility that his confession was coerced and false.

At this point, the interview covered picking up Kristi’s other kids, driving to Jackson to pick up Kyle Harvey, and going to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi.  The group stayed overnight and returned to Jackson on Sunday afternoon.  Around the time Tyler spoke about the trip to Gulfport/Biloxi, Sharon stepped in and learned that her son had been speaking without her consent (again, she specifically asked this not be done).  The interview was stopped at that time.  Tyler was arrested for the murder of Joey Fulgham and remanded to a cell in the county jail.

Two days later Tyler gave a recantation.  The recantation indicated that as previously mentioned, Kristi had asked Tyler for a gun to shoot a stray dog.  Tyler brought the old .22 which Kristi unsuccessfully tried to fire on that Friday.  Tyler awoke at 4 a.m., put her child and the computer in the car at her request, and they proceeded to meet Kyle Harvey and spend the weekend at the Gulf Coast.  After dropping of Kyle in Jackson, then hearing about Joey’s death, they proceeded to Meridian.  While in Meridian, Kristi coerced Tyler to lie to the authorities about the murder she committed.  Tyler went back to West Point, met Sharon and proceeded to the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office where the interrogations occurred.

The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s office never found the murder weapon or any physical evidence to indicate Tyler was involved.  The only physical evidence in the case other than the bullet was Kristi’s fingerprints on the front porch, motion-sensing lights.  The lights had been disabled before the police secured the crime scene. The fingerprints could possibly indicate that Kristi did not want anyone to see her departure that Saturday morning.  The fingerprints also could possibly indicate that she did not want anyone to see a potential third party entering the residence at a later time.  Nobody other than Kristi will ever know what motivated her to disable the motion sensing lights.  Tyler was not given bail during the time before his trial after three attempts although he had no criminal record and did not give any indication of being a flight risk.  Tyler was tried and found guilty of first degree murder and robbery.  Judge Jim Kitchens did not allow Tyler an expert witness on false/coerced confessions (Dr. Allison Redlich) during the trial.  However, Kitchens allowed the prosecution’s forensic pathology expert witness to give an opinion (undisclosed during discovery) that two people pulled the trigger.  The opinion defied logic and was unsupported by any scientific methodology.  Further, this expert witness claimed he was board-certified to be a forensic pathologist in the state of Mississippi.  However, an October, 2006 Reason Magazine article stated that Hayne “isn’t certified by the American Board of Pathology, the only organization recognized by the National Association of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Medical Specialties as capable of certifying forensic pathologists.  According to depositions from other cases, Hayne failed the American Board of Pathology exams when he left halfway through, deeming the questions ‘absurd’.  Instead, his C.V. indicates that he’s certified by two organizations, one of which (the American Board of Forensic Pathology) isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.  The other (the American Academy of Forensic Examiners) doesn’t seem to exist.  Judging from his testimony in other depositions, it’s likely Hayne meant to list the American College of Forensic Examiners.  According to Hayne, the group certified him through the mail based on ‘life experience,’ with no examination at all.  Several forensics experts described the American College of Forensic Examiners to me as a ‘pay your money, get your certification’ organization.  A February 2000 article in the American Bar Association Journal makes similar allegations, with one psychologist who was certified through the group saying, ‘Everything was negotiable-for a fee’.”

Judge Kitchens did not allow the defense to actually present any evidence that Kristi Fulgham, acting without Tyler, had the motivation (mainly money) and the will to kill Joey Fulgham.  Testimony that Kristi asked Danny Edmonds for a gun to shoot Joey and promised him part of the life insurance money was not allowed by Kitchens.  Further, a 2000 appearance on the “Montel Williams Show” showing the tumultuous nature of Kristi and Joey’s relationship was not allowed into testimony at Tyler’s trial.  This appearance showed that Joey would remind Kristi during daily arguments that “She messed up, big” in reference to her child fathered by his best friend.  Dr. Hayne’s “two-fingers on the trigger” theory and the non-admittance of the “Montel Williams” videotape were critical factors in the recent Mississipi Supreme Court ruling to reverse Tyler’s sentence and remand his case back to the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court for a new trial (please see the entire Mississippi Supreme Court ruling in the “Supreme Court Appeal Articles” section of the Case History area).  Another potentially influencing factor in the outcome of Tyler’s trial was the jurors were instructed by Judge Kitchens that Tyler could not get the death penalty but did not indicate that Tyler could be given an automatic life sentence if convicted.  Further, Judge Kitchens had the discretion to move the trial to youth court, especially since Tyler had no criminal record, history of violence, or gang affiliation.  Also, Judge Kitchens did not allow the defense to indicate that Tyler recanted his confession.  Finally, Judge Kitchens did not allow television cameras into the courtroom denying Tyler the right to a public trial, and denying the public and press their first amendment rights.  With these various factors taken into account, it is apparent Tyler Wayne Edmonds was not allowed a constitutionally fair trial.

Tyler’s non-violent nature would never allow him to participate in this heinous act. Kristi Fulgham had a very strong motivation to kill and rob Joey Fulgham (money) where Tyler had absolutely none.  However, Kristi Fulgham’s extremely coercive influence pushed Tyler to make a false confession to crimes he did not commit.   The inconsistencies from Tyler’s confession along with Kristi’s direct influence during his interrogation point to a false confession.  Further, there is absolutely no physical evidence to implicate Tyler in these crimes.  Tyler Wayne Edmonds is innocent of these crimes.  Free Tyler Edmonds!