Yet another reason why we need serious legal system reform...

vi edit

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Phyllis Nelson's lawyers question 1st-degree charge

By Elizabeth Kutter
The Gazette
Monday, July 22, 2002, 11:26:16 PM

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Attorneys for Phyllis Nelson are asking a judge to review the first-degree murder charge filed against her in the stabbing death of her husband.
The motion reveals that Dr. Richard Nelson, 54, was killed with a paring knife in the early morning hours of Dec. 12.

Phyllis Nelson, now 55, is accused of stabbing her husband, executive dean of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine at the time of his death, at his apartment in Cedar Rapids.

Dr. Nelson died at St. Luke's Hospital later in the morning of a single knife wound to the heart. The Nelsons were in the process of divorcing.

The state contends Nelson murdered her husband during the commission of a forcible felony, one way of supporting a charge of first-degree murder.

Nelson's attorneys argue that a forcible felony did not occur. To be classified as a forcible felony, a dangerous weapon must be used, said Jerald Kinnamon of Cedar Rapids, a member of Nelson's defense team.

Kinnamon said a knife with a blade of less than 5 inches is too short to be considered a dangerous weapon under Iowa law.

Nelson's attorneys want Judge Thomas Horan to review the trial information (charges made by the state) against the minutes of testimony (evidence the state has) to determine whether there is enough evidence to support a charge of first-degree murder.

"We are asking the judge to clarify the issue," said Kinnamon.

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The attorney want's the charges reduced because the parry knife's blade is too short!!!!

 
Feb 10, 2000
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I'm not sure I see why you find this so disturbing.

I have only read the article you quote in connection with this case, but it sounds to me as though the prosecutor may have been a bit overambitious in charging this as first-degree murder. Apparently the state based its first-degree charge not on premeditation and deliberation, but on the fact that she used a dangerous weapon in a "forcible felony" (perhaps because she admitted to the stabbing but claimed she did not intend to kill her husband, undermining the argument that the crime was premeditated). Obviously if the knife she used was not a "dangerous weapon" as the state law defined it, then the state dropped the ball in charging and her conviction was improper.

This may be unsatisfying, but the defense attorneys are just doing their jobs here. Actually an old boss of mine is now the State Public Defender for the state of Iowa - I imagine he will be pleased if she gets a new trial . . .
 

vi edit

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I'm sorry, but if you stab somebody in the chest and kill them, I don't care if it's a 12" commando knife, a parry knife, or a #2 pencil. The fact remains that you have killed them. Getting a lighter conviction because of a technicality of "the knife is too small" is complete and utter bullsh!t in my opinion.

Not only that, but she took the damn thing from Iowa City to CR with her!

I'm just awestruck at the idiocy of the whole thing.

 

Vic

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Gonna have to agree with Don_Vito here, unfortunately. While still a heinous murder, this is not a case of 1st degree murder and the DA was overly ambitious. The knife issue is merely a technicality, but in this case it is serving the cause of justice.
Just to clarify for those who don't understand:
Plotting in advance to kill someone = 1st degree murder (as an example)
Husband and wife get in spat, wife picks up knife and stabs husband in heat of argument, he dies != 1st degree murder. 2nd degree most likely, depending on circumstances, manslaughter at the least.
 

vi edit

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Husband and wife get in spat, wife picks up knife and stabs husband in heat of argument, he dies != 1st degree murder

She got the knife, drove 35 minutes to another city, and next thing you know, the guys dead. How is this not premeditated?

Help me out here, I'm legal mumbo jumbo inept.
 

Vic

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Originally posted by: vi_edit
Husband and wife get in spat, wife picks up knife and stabs husband in heat of argument, he dies != 1st degree murder

She got the knife, drove 35 minutes to another city, and next thing you know, the guys dead. How is this not premeditated?

Help me out here, I'm legal mumbo jumbo inept.

I was unaware of how far apart the 2 cities were. Still, there is not enough info here for me to make further judgement. Has she admitted to taking the knife with her on the drive over, or was the knife actually from her husband's apartment (and the former being something the prosecution is simply "alleging")? Did she march right into his apt. and kill him, or did they fight for a while first? These are important questions in this case.
Generally, 1st degree is planned out and/or done for gain, without emotional involvement, while 2nd degree involves murders committed while in a heated emotional state, and that the murder would not have been committed otherwise except for that emotional state.
Either way, this is clearly a murder of some type and Mrs. Nelson needs to spend a good deal of her remaining years behind bars. The fine gray area between 1st and 2nd degrees is something for the lawyers to decide and really is a moot point as far as Mrs. Nelson's punishment goes, unless the DA is looking for the death penalty.
 

vi edit

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From Don's link...

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The substitute music teacher is charged with first-degree murder instead of a lesser charge because she allegedly drove to her husband's Cedar Rapids apartment with the knife from Iowa City, police said. Authorities contend that action implies premeditation.

"We believe that possibly the suspect may have brought the knife to the scene with her, and there may be more knives of this description at the [Iowa City] residence of the suspect and victim," Cedar Rapids police Officer James Kelly said in court records. No knife similar to the one used on Richard Nelson was found in his apartment, he added.
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This is the same story I've heard for months as well.
 
Feb 10, 2000
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Not only that, but she took the damn thing from Iowa City to CR with her!

In the article I linked, that was speculated by the investigators, but they had no concrete evidence to support it. Did she admit to transporting the knife? Otherwise it would be tough to prove, given that it was a common variety of knife (specifically, a paring knife).

 
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In the larger sense, in reference to your thread title, what reform do you propose to alleviate the kind of claim that the defense is making in this case? Keep in mind that no action has been taken based on the defense's arguments, and that they are just asking a judge to review the legal sufficiency of the charge.
 

XMan

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You know, a part of me thinks, "Hmm . . . a woman killed her husband . . . he must have had it coming."

 

vi edit

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In the article I linked, that was speculated by the investigators, but they had no concrete evidence to support it. Did she admit to transporting the knife? Otherwise it would be tough to prove, given that it was a common variety of knife (specifically, a paring knife).

I've read news articles where she claimed to take it. I'm still trying to chase down online evidence of...this evidence.
 

vi edit

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In the larger sense, in reference to your thread title, what reform do you propose to alleviate the kind of claim that the defense is making in this case?

It's more that I'm frustrated that charges can be knocked down because of ridiculous things like a knife blade being to small to be considered dangerous.
 
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Originally posted by: vi_edit
In the larger sense, in reference to your thread title, what reform do you propose to alleviate the kind of claim that the defense is making in this case?

It's more that I'm frustrated that charges can be knocked down because of ridiculous things like a knife blade being to small to be considered dangerous.

The thing is, they would not be "knocked down," just adjusted to accurately reflect the conduct. I am a prosecutor myself, and currently working on a VERY serious case in which the accused will probably spend decades in prison. I assure you the charges will be the ones that most accurately reflect the offenses we can prove.

In this case, if the prosecution feels it can marshall the evidence it needs to support deliberation and premeditation, it will no doubt do so. Otherwise, this should never have been charged as first-degree murder, so justice has been served.