Dr. Kenny Kinsey Testifies at the Trial for Attempted Murder of Greenville Lawyer Continues

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Dr. Kenny Kinsey testified for the defense at the trial of Travis Douglass, who is charged with the attempted murder of Greenville attorney J.P. Baum, continued this week as the defense presented expert witnesses critical of the investigation’s methods.

Douglass is accused of shooting Baum outside his law firm last April amid a lawsuit involving Baum’s firm and Douglass’s friend, David Smith. Prosecutors argue that phone records and surveillance footage place Douglass at the scene; however, the defense claims the State’s evidence lacks certainty in linking Douglass to the crime.

In a statement Baum released, he said, “My right lung collapsed. As I started to take what I believed was my last breaths in this world, I called my wife to tell her I was dying and that I loved her.”

Nearly a month later, investigators arrested Travis Douglass, a Hilton Head man with no criminal record.

The state says Douglass agreed to shoot and kill an attorney for his friend David Smith, an architect. The Law Offices of Truluck Thomason was suing him for more than a million dollars for construction issues.

The defense also called digital forensic expert James Bass who disagreed with the State’s interpretation of the cell phone data.

Bass said he looked at raw data from several sources and found that the data point the State is using to place Douglass at the scene has low accuracy.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey, a forensic expert widely known for his role in the high-profile Alex Murdaugh trial, testified for the defense. In the Murdaugh case, Kinsey’s testimony had supported the prosecution, providing detailed analysis on crime scene elements that underscored the case against Murdaugh. Yet in a notable shift, Kinsey criticized investigators in Douglass’s case for showing “tunnel vision” and failing to collect sufficient forensic evidence to rule out other suspects.

Kinsey’s comments in the Douglass trial underscore a striking irony: in the Murdaugh investigation, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Agent David Owen had focused solely on Alex Murdaugh as the primary suspect for months. During that time, Owen identified Murdaugh as the only person of interest within the “circle” of the investigation, a strategy that persisted until later evidence emerged—first the discovery of Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes, and then a critical video recorded by a family dog that placed Murdaugh at the scene 3 to 4 minutes prior to the time of the murders. Kinsey, however, never voiced similar concerns over a narrow investigative focus in the Murdaugh case, where evidence was progressively gathered to confirm the charges.

In Douglass’s case, Kinsey urged the jury to consider the importance of keeping investigative possibilities open, a principle he emphasized with a metaphor. “The whole goal of investigations is to open doors and to make possibilities materialize,” Kinsey told the jury. “Once those doors open and that possibility materializes, then you have to pivot and go down that alley.”

Adding further to the defense’s critique, digital forensic expert James Bass disputed the State’s interpretation of cell phone data used to place Douglass at the scene. Bass explained that his examination of raw data from various sources showed the data point used by the prosecution was of low accuracy, meaning it does not reliably place Douglass’s phone in the vicinity of the shooting.

The defense plans to rest its case today. Court resumed at 9:30 a.m.

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