Lesa Alcorn of Poplar Bluff was bound over for trial on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action following a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon. The charges stem from a fatal incident March 5, when Alcorn allegedly killed Matthew Wilkerson by shooting him multiple times. She informed officers that she had shot him because he “made a lunging motion” at her while he was armed.
The prosecution called multiple witnesses to the stand during the hearing, including Matthew Wilkerson’s daughter, Kayleigh Wilkerson, who delivered an emotionally-charged testimony of the events leading to the shooting.
Wilkerson explained Alcorn had been staying with herself and Todd Alcorn, the father of her child, to assist with childcare. After returning from work the day of the shooting, she testified Alcorn began loudly criticized her and progressively became more rude and aggressive, finally dragging Wilkerson by the hair and smacking her. In response to the abuse, Wilkerson said she prepared to leave with her six-month-old baby, but Alcorn refused to let her leave the house with the child.
Wilkerson called her father to tell him what was happening, and he said he would come help her. While the dispute continued, Wilkerson testified she heard Alcorn speak to her son on the telephone and say something about having her gun.
“I called my dad again and I told him not to come because she had a gun,” Wilkerson noted. “The third time I was on the phone with my dad, he was on speakerphone, and Lesa told him she would shoot him if he came to the house.”
Wilkerson stated after her father arrived, she stood between him and Alcorn at the entrance to the house in an attempt to deescalate the situation. She moved from her position near the doorway of the residence, intending to take Matthew Wilkerson for a walk and separate him from the situation; at that time, she said, Alcorn fired numerous shots at him.
“She waited for me to be out of the way so she could shoot him,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson took her father’s cell phone from his pocket and tried call 911, she continued. “I couldn’t figure out the password to get into his phone. And then Lesa stepped out from the house and started shooting at my dad’s body again. So I ran to the neighbor’s house to call the police.”
During cross examination, Alcorn’s attorney Derrick Kirby had Wilkerson recall parts of her story and questioned why shy had not called the police to begin with. Wilkerson replied she had feared Alcorn would kill her if she called law enforcement.
Following Wilkerson’s testimony, prosecutors called Deputy Eddie Holloway to the stand. Holloway collected evidence from the scene and reported finding six different shell casings from the gun Alcorn used, and one spent casing from the gun in Matthew Wilkerson’s hand. He went on to testify the round from Wilkerson’s pistol was fired straight into the ground.
“I believe he pulled the trigger of his gun when he was shot,” Holloway remarked. “I believe it was a reflex pull.”
Wilkerson testified earlier that her father had his pistol in his hand, but kept it pointed down and at his side, while Alcorn waved her weapon around and pointed it at him.
Alcorn was bound over for trial and is scheduled to appear before Circuit Judge Kacey Proctor in Division I court at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 22.