Lawyers for Kenneth James Floyd are seeking his acquittal and a new trial after he was convicted in November of running over and killing his ex-wife in 2023.  

The defense team’s efforts to secure a new trial included attempting to remove presiding Judge Dan Wilson from the case and finding an alternate juror to testify that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence that proved Floyd’s conviction. 

Floyd was accused of grievously injuring Kimberly Gilham with his truck as he drove out of a Martin City alley in the early morning hours of June 18, 2023. Gilham succumbed to her wounds at Logan Health Medical Center, and Floyd allegedly fled to Browning after the ultimately fatal collision.  

A Flathead County District Court jury in November found the 40-year-old Floyd guilty on three counts: negligent homicide, leaving the scene of a vehicle accident involving serious bodily injury or death and tampering with physical evidence. 

His weeklong trial ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3. Wilson remanded Floyd into custody pending his sentencing, which was scheduled for Jan. 8 but later postponed.  

Attorney Jami Rebsom, representing Floyd, filed a motion for an acquittal and new trial in district court on Dec. 3. that is still under consideration. It accused prosecutors of violating pretrial court orders, giving improper jury instructions and failing to preserve evidence that could have exonerated Floyd.   

Throughout the trial, Floyd’s lawyers tried to convince the jury that Gilham's husband, Chris Gilham, may have been responsible for her death. The defense suggested that Kimberly Gilham’s injuries were consistent with being run over by Chris Gilham's car.   

That night, Chris Gilham drove into the alley to find Kimberly Gilham drinking vodka with Floyd in his truck. After Chris Gilham banged on the window, Kimberly Gilham reportedly got out. As she rounded the front of the truck, Floyd shifted into drive and ran her over as he left the alley between First Avenue North and Central Avenue, prosecutors alleged. 

Because the definition of negligence provided to the jury included the disputed fact that Floyd ran Kimberly over, Rebsom argued it was “effectively directing the jury to accept the state’s version of events,” the motion read.  

Prosecutors argued that the instruction required the specific conduct Floyd was charged with — driving a truck while another person was in front of it — to be included in the definition. 

Floyd’s defense also argued that Floyd’s due process was violated when the jury was banned from inferring whether Chris Gilham's vehicle could have held evidence to exonerate Floyd. Law enforcement never examined Chris Gilham’s SUV for evidence.  

Prosecutors maintained that law enforcement had no duty to collect evidence for the defendant, according to a response filed by Special Deputy County Attorney Eric Kitzmiller on Dec. 12.  

Prosecutors refuted the accusation they brought up any other alleged misdeeds by Floyd that would have violated a pretrial court order. Floyd’s defense team didn’t object to any evidence presented during the trial, they wrote.  

“Floyd does not identify what the evidence is, when or how it was offered during the trial, or that he objected to the evidence or otherwise brought this matter to the attention of the Court during the trial,” the state’s response states. 

ONE OF the alternate jurors from the trial testified last month that the evidence presented was insufficient to support Floyd’s conviction.  

“There were many times during the trial I wanted to raise my hand and ask questions,” read Claudia Bielenberg Thorsrud’s testimony submitted on Dec. 3. 

“The prosecution’s case regarding whether Ken Floyd ran over Kim was, in my view, not proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” her testimony continued. 

In response, state prosecutors argued that Thorsrud did not benefit from having a full and open discussion of the evidence with other jurors, and that her testimony cannot be used to support a new trial.  

THE MONTANA Supreme Court denied Floyd’s defense another motion to disqualify Wilson from the case in December, citing a procedural error. The motion accused Wilson of prejudging Floyd’s guilt before the verdict based on comments he made during the trial.   

Wilson ordered Floyd into custody after determining that Floyd made false statements during his testimony and to the detective who interviewed him in 2023.  

“The district court’s comments on Mr. Floyd’s credibility were clearly a personal bias and prejudice against Mr. Floyd,” the motion read.  

But the Supreme Court ruled that the required paperwork to properly file the motion was missing, thus voiding it.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].