A two day Jury Trial in Calhoun Circuit Court began on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, finding Jody Alan Satterfield guilty of the Attempted Murder of his mother and Attempted Arson. In the harrowing tale that followed, the defendant sat unaffected as testimony was provided by his 72 year old mother, his son, and niece describing the event and days following that nearly cost Ms. Satterfield her life.
As the pretrial discussions began outside the presence of any jury members, Prosecuting Attorney Michael Hicks told Judge Ashley that a plea bargain had been turned down by the defendant to plea to one of the felony charges in exchange for the other being dismissed.
Twelve jurors and one alternate were selected from approximately thirty of the forty Calhoun citizens called to appear.
The first witness called on behalf of the State was the victim of the attempted murder, Diana Satterfield, the mother of the defendant. After identifying her son from the stand, she described how she had gone to bed on the night of July 10th, 2023 in her single wide trailer on Daniels Run Road. She awoke at 3:16 a.m., knowing the time because when she touched her cell phone it lit up, she attempted to get up but fell back into her bed and assumes she passed out at that time. She woke again between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., telling herself to get up or she was going to die. When she left her bedroom, and walked down the short hallway into the kitchen she could not only smell gas fumes, but she could see the mist of gas in the air and feel it on the floor of the kitchen. She could hear the hissing sound of the gas cook stove which had the burners turned on without the flame, only a few feet away from a lit candle sitting on a table. She grabbed the candle, opened the door of her home and through the candle out into the yard. She said she then turned the air conditioner on, opened the doors to air out the gas which had caused her to have an extreme headache, watering eyes and nausea.
Ms. Satterfield realized then that her son was not there and her car was missing. She went back to her room and seen her purse laying open on the bed with her bank card and a credit card missing from her wallet as well as her car keys.
Jodi Satterfield had been living in his mother’s home for several months following a separation from his wife. When asked about her relationship with her son, she described it as being strained, having disagreements over his wanting to use her car. “He would talk about wild things that I didnt understand,” she said. She attempted to talk to him about the Bible and he would get angry. She would catch him staring at her very strange. “It’s difficult to talk about this,” she said tearfully. She told Prosecutor Hicks that she still loved her son, but life had changed. She catches herself locking the doors even in the daytime from the inside.
After airing out her home from the gas fumes, Diana Satterfield called her grandson Tristan who lived at Calhoun Homes on Mt. Zion. Her other grandson Austin lived nearby on the property, but he and his family had gone on a beach vacation and were away. Tristan arrived shortly after she called, driving her car.
In sworn testimony, Tristan testified that his dad Jody had come to his home on Mt. Zion around 1:00-1:30 a.m. Early the next morning his dad asked him to go with him to Spencer to get a truck. Concerned about his grandmother’s car, Tristan agreed to go but they did not however go to Spencer; the two traveled to Parkersburg to the home of Jody’s niece by marriage, Lakretia Reeder. Tristan assumed that his dad was looking for mother who was Lakretia’s aunt. Tristan told his father that he wanted no part of what ever was happening and that he was returning to Calhoun Calhoun with the car, leaving Jody Satterfield at the home of Mrs. Reeder. Before Tristan left Jody told him that he should not return to his grandmother’s home.
Mrs. Satterfield (during her testimony) stated that after her grandson Austin returned from beach the following Monday, his wife took her to the doctor and to file a protective order against Jody Satterfield. When asked why she hadn’t already already called the police, she told Prosecutor Hicks that she was “so out of it because of the gas fumes, and she didn’t dare drive.” But on Monday, July 17th, 2023, after a Permanent Protective Order was approved and filed the State Police began an investigation into the matter.
Defense Attorney John Balenovich had previously requested that the admittance of the Permanent Protective Order as evidence not be allowed, but Judge Anita Ashley denied his request.
Under cross examination by Attorney John Balenovich, the defense attorney attempted to raise questions about the access of the Satterfield home by Diana’s brother, Kevin Starcher. Mr. Starcher had visited the Satterfield home on the morning of July 10th, 2023. Also noting that Ms. Satterfield had said that her back door lock did not work and bringing into the equation that there had allegedly been a desire by Kevin Starcher to obtain the property for which Diana lived.
In addition to access, Attorney Balenovich questioned the amount of gas exposure to the open flame and why it didn’t ignite. Ms. Satterfield’s response, as a woman of faith, was that it was “Only by the grace of God that I am alive,” she said.
In the testimony to follow by State witness Tristan Satterfield, he too stated that there were gas fumes still lingering in the home when he later arrived and stayed with this grandmother the rest of the day on July 11th. He expressed his shock at what had happened, and how hard it was to have to testify at his father’s trial.
While under cross examination, Attorney Balenovich inquired if Tristan had seen his father with the candle (to which he responded “no”), questioned him about his uncle Kevin Starcher, to which Tristan said he came occasionally to help his grandmother out.
The third State witness was Dana Haught, an well tending employee of Dorward Energy Company that supplied the gas for the Satterfield home. He had been contacted by Sr. Trooper Josh Richards to do a current read on the gas usage at Ms. Satterfields home. The prior read was done on July 6th, 2023, before the incident occurred. When Mr. Haught read the meter again on July 21st, 2023, it showed that there was a difference of 3 thousandths cubic feet of gas used, which would be considered high usage in the summer month of July. Mr.Haught searched around the premises for leaks, finding none. Several reads from over a year of usage was presented to show what the average reads were for the Satterfield home with commentary on how the reads were done and time frames.
Mr. Balenovich questioned the precision of the readings and whether or not the well tender had checked the appliances for leaks, to which he responded he did not. Mr. Haught believed that appliances were not in question because there was no smell of gas in the home once it was aired out.
Sr. Trooper Josh Richards came to the home of Diana Satterfield.
Day two of the trial began with the testimony of State witness 4 – Lakretia Reeder, of Wood county, niece of Jody Satterfield through his marriage to Heather Satterfield.
Mrs. Reeder recalled the July 11th, 2023 series of events that led to her families involvement in the trial. Her husband had came home from shift work, and found Jody Satterfield on their back porch in Parkersburg at 7 a.m. Satterfield requested and was given a ride by her husband to Old Route 31 where Jody Satterfield had grown up.
On July 12th, Jody Satterfield returned to the front porch of her home. She said that he had came into her home through the garage door where he spoke to her saying that “there was some crazy things happening.” She described. Jody as acting “off” by talking weird, saying his “mom Diane, was the devil, she was Satan, there were spirits and goddesses, praying that they would be protected. He said that she (Lakretia) was a goddess and if she stayed with him she would be safe. He said that “he came from Calhoun and that he had blown the whole f’ing holler up.” According to Lakretia, Satterfield was directing that toward his mother and Kevin Starcher. Satterfield also said that he had “seen young kids souls come out of her and she was the devil, and he would not shed a tear if she passed.”
Jody Satterfield continued coming and going from the Reeder home for a few days, showing up randomly and causing a feeling of uneasiness in her. In a concern for her family she had her husband request that he leave and not come back.
Under cross examination, Attorney Balenovich questioned Lakretia Reeder about the odd behavior of Jody Satterfield and what could be the possible cause.
The 5th and final witness for the State of WV was Sr. Trooper Josh Richards, of the WV State Police, Grantsville detachment for 4 years. Trooper Richards testified that he was in the courthouse on July 17th, 2023 when Mrs. Satterfield was meeting with the Magistrate who referred her to talk to him about what had happened. After his conversation with Diana Satterfield he then acted on speaking to the witnesses on July 29th, 2023 to get their statements. He was able to confirm that their statements and hers aligned and find probable cause to pursue warrants for the arrest of Jody Satterfield. The warrants were filed on July 30th, 2023 in Calhoun Magistrate Court and served on Jody Satterfield in Wood County.
Under Cross examination of Sr. Trooper Richards, Defense Attorney Balenovich questioned the mental state of Diane Satterfield when she was being interviewed by Trooper Richards. The Trooper stated adamantly that she was not “off in the head.” To which Attorney Balenovich questioned whether or not she was sick, or speaking oddly. The trooper stated he wasn’t a physician.
Attorney Balenovich once again questioned why the home did not explode under the circumstances of gas and fire exposure to which the Trooper responded “I’m not a scientist or a physicist.” When asked about whether or not he had checked the appliances in the home, the Trooper stated he did not. When questioned about DNA, Trooper Richards stated that he knew the DNA of the defendant would be there because Jody lived in the home and that there was no investigation of other family members because there was no evidence of need.
The State of West Virginia rested their case at 10:35 a.m. the second day.
No witnesses were called for the defense, but Attorney Balenovich at that time requested a dismissal stating there was no evidence Jody Satterfield had committed the crime of of attempted arson or attempted murder for which the Judge denied believing there had been enough evidence to move forward.
In his closing arguments Attorney Balenovich suggested that both Diane Satterfield and Jody Satterfield had been under the influence of exposure to natural gas through leaking appliances in the home and that the two of them were “out of their minds.”
A defense that failed to convince the 12 jurors who returned at 4:23 p.m., with less than two hours of deliberation, with a guilty verdict.
State rested at 10:35, no more evidence. A break for 25 minutes.
Closing arguments – never to be seen again in Calhoun county or by his mother until the trial.
Jody Satterfield was returned to the West Virginia Central Regional Jail with a post trial motion date of January 8th, 2025 scheduled with sentencing at a later date.
