By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

OSBORNE -- Both the prosecution and the defense concluded their cases Monday, bringing to a close the witness testimony phase of the trial against Kenneth Eugene Wilson, who is charged in the March 2008 slaying of Portis resident Jeffery Scott Noel.

Before resting its case, the defense, represented by Hays attorney Paul Oller, called Wilson to the stand to discuss his activity during that time frame.

There was much discussion between him and his client as to whether Wilson would testify at his trial, Oller indicated to District Judge William B. Elliott prior to Wilson taking the stand, and it ultimately was Wilson's decision as to whether he would forfeit his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

"To begin with, I'd like to say to everybody in this community that I'm sorry that this ever happened," Wilson began in a shaky voice. "During the course of this trial ... I heard many people say, 'If this man's not guilty of this, he should take the stand,' and I believe that."

For the majority of his testimony, Wilson was allowed to speak freely to the jury, without interruption by his counsel, first giving jurors a glimpse into his troubled past -- Wilson has previous convictions for a 1983 robbery in Oklahoma and a 1984 rape and kidnapping in Sedgwick County, for which he received 18 years in prison -- and then discussing the period of time before, during and after the Noel murder took place.

Wilson said he did make several trips across Kansas, five in total, during that time. While part of the reason might have been to look for land or a job, he said the true purpose was to pick up and deliver locked suitcases for an unidentified Salina resident he'd previously met in prison. He never was told what the contents of the suitcases were, he said.

Despite several requests later by Deputy Attorney General Barry Disney, Wilson refused to identify the individual who hired him for the expeditions, indicating a fear of harm that could come from disclosure of the man's name.

The trips twice took him to Nebraska and Colorado and once into Iowa, he said. Wilson admitted to having been in Nebraska on March 24, the day before Noel's murder, for one of those trips, and even stopped in Osborne briefly to purchase a transmission pump for his car before heading back to Salina.

The next morning, Wilson said, he and his wife's cousin, Delbert McBroom, left to visit Big Lake, Mo., in an attempt to find land to purchase. He did not return from that trip, he said, until March 28.

"That's the extent of my driving through Kansas, Nebraska (and) Colorado," he said. "I couldn't do this crime. I didn't do this crime."

Under cross-examination, Wilson told the jury the stolen items of property that were found inside his home during a search by law enforcement officers had been purchased by him at a sale at the home of the unidentified person who had hired him for the mysterious suitcase deliveries.

Wilson did not, however, have answers for how or why the cigarettes collected by police inside the Noel home and outside a burglarized Nebraska residence -- which earlier in the day a Kansas Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist testified underwent analysis and were found to have DNA present on them that matched Wilson's -- came to be where they were discovered.

"I have no idea," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and say I know exactly how they got there, because I don't."

Wilson's testimony lasted roughly an hour and was sandwiched between that of seven other defense witnesses who were used primarily to address Wilson's character.

Don Starnes and Paul Hughes, two representatives for Freedom Challenge, a faith-based program at Hutchinson Correctional Facility aimed at helping inmates address issues and develop life skills, later testified Wilson volunteered to join the group to overcome anger issues.

Starnes said Wilson was "fairly involved" in group activities and made noticeable progress by the time he completed the program eight months later.

Wilson's wife, Sharon, was recalled to the stand and began to read a letter she wrote to the Freedom Challenge staff thanking them for what they did for her husband, who appeared to be a "changed man" after his passage through the program.

Overcome by emotion, Sharon Wilson was not able to read the entire letter, and Oller finished for her.

Sharon Wilson's three children, Kenneth Wilson's stepchildren, Felicia, Michael and Devon Horting, also were called by the defense, as was KBI Special Agent Delbert Hawel.

The presentation of the defense's case came after a morning of testimony from the last remaining witnesses for the prosecution: Lt. Scott Becker of the Osborne County Sheriff's office; Dr. Lyle Noordhoek, the coroner who performed the autopsy of Noel's body; and Michelle McGinness, the KBI forensic scientist who analyzed DNA for the case.

After their testimony, Six announced the state's intentions to rest its case.

After the state rested its case, Oller offered a motion requesting a judgment of acquittal for Wilson, contending the state had not met its burden of proof. Elliott denied the motion.

"A reasonable fact-finder" possibly could find Wilson guilty of the crime, Elliott said while ruling on the motion.

Today, the jury will hear closing arguments by both sides and be given their final instructions by the court as to how to decide Wilson's fate.

If found guilty of murder, Wilson faces life in prison.