Jurors in Bulloch County returned a verdict for Robert Keller Wednesday, finding Keller guilty on ten of ten counts connected to a murder on I-16 nearly two years ago.
Jurors heard testimony for two days in the murder trial of Robert Brandon Keller who investigators say brutally murdered Metter resident Bruce William Dupree in October 2024. Keller, who defense counsel say was ‘on a spiritual journey’ from North Carolina to Florida, was high on methamphetamine when he stabbed Dupree in a vehicle traveling eastbound on I-16. Dupree crawled across the interstate to the fog line of the westbound lanes of travel when he was spotted by passersby who called 911. Though law enforcement and EMS responded to the scene, Dupree succumbed to his injuries. Keller was later located and arrested. Read prior trial coverage here.
Keller’s case garnered headlines during the pendency of the case after he removed his own eyeballs in the Bulloch County Jail. Defense counsel questioned his mental competency, but after evaluation by two psychologists and hearing testimony from jailers who were told by Keller that he did it to ‘cover his ass’ because he wanted to go to a medical prison, the court determined he did not meet the legal standard for mentally incompetent. He subsequently stood trial for the offenses this week.
Wednesday Court Proceedings
Wednesday opened with attorneys finalizing jury charges and other preliminary matters before moving into closing statements.
CLOSING STATEMENT FROM ADA RENORDA HERRING
Assistant District Attorney Renorda Herring addressed jurors first. She asked them to consider the evidence brought to them in the courtroom when evaluating the charges, saying the state was not asking them to use sympathy or anything outside of what they had heard in court.
She explained that jurors would be responsible for confirming that the state had proven each element of every charge Keller is facing beyond a reasonable doubt. Herring recapped how the state had repeatedly demonstrated that the crime happened in Bulloch County and on October 14, 2024.
Herring also explained legal concepts like malice murder – intentionally murdering a person- and Felony Murder, which results when a person dies while or as a result of the defendant committing another felony act, such as Aggravated Assault or Armed Robbery.
Herring then told jurors that ‘Voluntary Intoxication’ is not a defense to a crime.
Ultimately, Herring said jurors would hear from the defense and again from Acting DA Jillian Gibson before they deliberated, but asked that they return a verdict of Guilty on all counts.
CLOSING STATEMENT FROM DEFENSE
Que’Andra Campbell of the Public Defender’s Office offered the closing statement for the defense, addressing jurors for twenty-five minutes.
Campbell first addressed Voluntary Intoxication, saying it was not a defense for the crimes, but it did explain Keller’s behavior following the offenses because of what he witnessed.
“Things that do not make sense but are indicative of active addiction. Indicative of someone at their lowest point,” Campbell said.
Campbell briefly touched on the charges Keller is facing, also addressing the elements of the crimes.She then moved on to witness testimony, highlighting what she suggested were contradictions of witnesses to the state’s story, namely that Dupree’s longtime partner testified that Dupree would not have picked someone up on the roadside and that he should not have been back out on I-16 after first going home that night.
She then discussed 911 callers, casting doubt on the consistency of their stories, suggesting their accounts from the night of the crime were not reliable. Campbell also contended that:
- The money recovered from the cashier at PoJo’s did not have blood on it
- The Trooper’s statements were not corroborated by the dash cam viewed by jurors (whether or not Dupree had shoes on him)
- The investigation was flawed because some items were not sent off for analysis by the GBI Crime Lab and some of the items that were tested were not subject to follow-up testing by the crime lab
- While Dupree’s DNA was on the knife and a second profile was on the knife, the Crime Lab Analyst did not testify that Keller’s DNA was the second profile on the knife.
- The BCSO report regarding Keller’s self-harm had typographical errors, lacked body camera footage, and they were presented with no video from the jail.
- No one knew where Mr. Dupree was from 8:04 p.m to 8:07 p.m., which means they cannot be certain that the crime happened in Bulloch County.
Campbell then returned to the argument that there very well may have been another person in the vehicle that night, particularly because a pack of cigarettes were in the back of the vehicle.She also told jurors that she polled people in law enforcement about picking up a hitchhiker and whether they would pick up someone up on the roadside while driving alone versus if they had someone else in the vehicle.
Finally, Campbell talked about the state’s presentation of evidence and the state’s failure to answer all of the questions related to the case. She said prosecutors should have directed law enforcement to conduct further testing on evidence sent to the crime lab. She also said Gibson did not deliver on what was said in opening statements, including what would be offered in DNA evidence and what happened to Dupree’s cell phone.
“Mr. Keller witnessed the murder of Mr. Dupree and he is hard on himself because he relapsed. He shouldn’t have been in that car, he shouldn’t have been on that highway…Mrs. Gibson wants you to ignore the evidence…250 items submitted in this trial, only two items were tested,” Campbell said.
She told jurors that the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Keller was responsible for Dupree’s death. “Ask yourself if the answers they give are based on the evidence we saw…There is reasonable doubt and Mr. Keller should be found ‘not guilty.’”
CLOSING ARGUMENT FROM ACTING DA JILLIAN GIBSON
With the state having the burden of proof, Acting DA Jillian Gibson addressed jurors one last time before they retreated to the jury room for deliberations.
Gibson first countered Campbell’s recitation of testimony during closing regarding the 911 callers. Campbell told jurors that one witness made a 911 call passing exit 111 on I-16, which is in Candler County, when she passed Dupree in the grass. Gibson said the second witness passed Dupree around mile marker 113, but reported passing 111 while on the call with 911 because she was actively traveling on the interstate.
“This case is not a ‘who done it?’ We know who did it. I ask you to use your common sense in this case,” Gibson said, belaboring that Keller’s self-harm is an attempt to go to a medical prison and a result of his own guilt.
“Ms. Campbell said this is something that Mr. Keller will never forget. Well, he didn’t remember it in his interview,” Gibson said, referring to Keller’s answers to investigators that he remembered nothing surrounding the incident, only climbing the communications tower afterward.
Gibson explained the distinction between direct evidence versus circumstantial evidence and told jurors that the state did not have to prove motive because oftentimes, the defendant is the only person who knows ‘the why.’
Before recapping evidence presented over the two days prior, Gibson addressed the suggestion by the defense that a third person was in the car, calling it ‘pure speculation.’
“There is absolutely no evidence in this case that someone else was in the vehicle,” Gibson said,
After recounting the evidence, Gibson posted some of Keller’s statements to law enforcement on the screen in front of jurors.
- “I don’t think I’m mental. I don’t have voices in my head. I just said that to cover my ass.”
- “I made some choices that led me here, and I am being punished by the creator.”
- And his commentary that he knows he’s going to prison.
Finally, Gibson published a picture of a $100 bill depicted as a puzzle. A number of pieces were missing from the puzzle, but even with the missing pieces, it is clear it is a $100 bill.
“We don’t know why he brutally murdered Bruce Dupree. But we know the defendant murdered Bruce Dupree. I ask you to return a verdict that speaks the truth. There is only one verdict that does that: guilty.”
Throughout closing arguments, Keller sat fully slumped over in his chair, with his face toward the floor.
Judge Matthew Hube then charged the jury and they were sent back into the deliberation room at 10:45 a.m, but they did not receive all of the evidence to begin deliberations until 11:00 a.m.
