Judge holds Willits man to guilty plea in grandfather's dragging death

A Willits man, who admitted to dragging his 84-year-old grandfather behind a truck for six miles then dumping what remained of his body down a ravine, has been held to the plea agreement he made in April and is now scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 14 for first-degree murder.

Kenneth Wilkinson, 24, had sought to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he was inadequately represented and unprepared to make the plea agreement, but a Mendocino County judge Friday denied the request, saying there was no basis for the withdrawal.

“He entered the plea knowingly and intelligently with an understanding of the consequences after weighing his alternatives,” Judge John Behnke wrote in his ruling.

Wilkinson entered the guilty plea to avoid the possibility of being convicted of an additional charge of torture at trial, which would have meant a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The murder plea he entered carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Behnke said it was clear that Wilkinson understood that choice. Had the case gone to trial, there was a risk that the special allegation of torture would be proved and that Wilkinson would have no chance of ever being released from prison, he noted.

A torture conviction hinged on whether Wilkinson’s grandfather, Richard “Mel” Wilkinson,” was alive when he was dragged behind the truck, leaving a trail of blood and body parts scattered along a winding mountain road outside of Willits.

Wilkinson told authorities he was intoxicated at the time, but that he believed he’d killed his grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s disease, with an ax before he tied him to the trailer hitch of the pickup.

He told a psychiatrist a year after the March 2012 killing that he did not know what triggered the attack but alleged his grandfather had called him a junkie drug addict, according to Behnke’s ruling.

The elder Wilkinson, a retired lumber mill worker, lived with his daughter and son-in-law on 10 acres outside Willits. Kenneth Wilkinson, who was unemployed and had drug and alcohol abuse problems, lived in a trailer on the property, family said.

Kenneth Wilkinson was watching his grandfather while other family members went into town.

When they returned, Mel Wilkinson was missing.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.