Munro's sister, neighbor testify in murder trial

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EPHRATA - Colleen Gibbins and Harmony Smith told jurors about the scene surrounding Sage Munro's house in the time before police arrived.

The trial of David Nickels, 31, Helena, Mont., entered its third week and second day of testimony Monday. Nickels is charged with first degree murder in the December 2009 shooting death of Munro, 35, outside of his Ephrata home.

Gibbins, a neighbor who heard the gunshot and saw Munro go back into his house, said the morning of the murder was quiet.

"(Munro is) the person I saw every morning," she said. "I get up early, and I would see him come out of his house every morning."

Munro normally left his home at about 5 a.m. to start his truck, before returning to his home to wait for it to warm up, Gibbins said. After letting the truck warm up, Munro would go to the athletic club for his morning workout.

The morning of the murder started normally for Gibbins, she said. She went through her routine of waking up early in the morning, taking her dogs out for a walk and had returned to her house to prepare breakfast.

"The truck was never started that morning," she said.

Gibbins didn't see anyone around Munro's truck or heard voices on the street prior to the gunshot, she said. When she was eating breakfast, she heard a shot, and saw Munro running into his house, holding his chest. She estimated the time she saw Munro as being between 6:30 a.m. and 6:40 a.m.

After Munro closed the door, Gibbins watched the house for about five minutes, she said; adding she was scared.

"I knew something felt wrong," she said. "(After five minutes,) I got up and went over and knocked on the door, and he didn't answer so I went home and called him on the phone and he didn't answer. Then I called 9-1-1."

She didn't remember how she approached the house, Gibbins said. After making the call, she went outside and waited for police. Gibbins met Smith, Munro's sister, outside and the approached the house with the officers who arrived on the scene.

"I told her something happened to him," she said.

She didn't know what happened to Munro until she and Smith entered the residence with police, Gibbins said.

"We saw Sage in the living room," she said. "He was down on his knees and leaning against a piece of furniture ... (The officers) told us to get out."

Smith's voice cracked several times as she described the day she found her brother dead. She lived across the street from Munro, and described their relationship as close.

"I adored him, and he used to always tell me that I was his favorite," she said. "We talked daily sometimes we had coffee together."

Smith had returned home after leaving her children with her ex-husband in the morning, when Gibbins approached her about Munro.

"She said, 'Harmony, turn off your Jeep, something bad had happened,'" Smith said. "I didn't really understand what she was saying, but I went and I turned my Jeep off, and then she said something about hearing a gunshot. I still didn't understand what she was saying, I was thinking, 'Maybe she heard it in the neighborhood.' Then I heard her say something about Sage ... and then it clicked that she was talking about Sage."

Smith started walking toward Munro's door, and started to go through and saw Munro hunched over on the floor in front of his couch.

"I saw the police officers, and I don't know if they knew I was there at first or not," Smith recounted, her voice cracking. "I saw one reach down and feel (Munro's) neck and shake his head no."

Jackie Walsh, one of Nickels' attorneys, had Gibbins identify a series of photographs of her neighborhood. During the identification, Walsh questioned Gibbins about an alleyway running behind Munro's home, and how much Gibbins could see out of the window.

"Are you aware of whether a person can walk from the north side of Mr. Munro's home clearly to the back door?" Walsh asked.

Gibbins answered a person could.

Walsh questioned about the location of Bambi Libby's home. Gibbins agreed it was on the same side of the road as Munro's home and within a couple of homes of Munro. Bambi Libby is Ian Libby's mother.

Nickels' attorneys are arguing Ian Libby was responsible for shooting Munro, possibly when they were prowling his truck looking for something to steal. When the defense attorneys questioned whether Gibbins had any issues with Libby, prosecutors objected, saying it was outside of the scope of Deputy Prosecutor Tyson Hill's questions.

Judge Evan Sperline agreed, ending the line of questioning.

As Walsh was showing Gibbins a photograph of Munro's home, she asked about a driveway south of Munro's home.

"Is it fair to say where you sat at the breakfast table, you were not able to see the driveway portion?" Walsh asked.

Gibbins agreed she wasn't able to see it.

Walsh also asked whether Gibbins noticed anything unusual when she took her dogs outside.

"You didn't see anyone lurking about?" she asked. "You didn't see anyone trying to hide in the bushes or behind cars? ... You didn't see any unusual cars, did you?"

Gibbins confirmed she didn't see anything unusual when she went outside.

After running through the events prior to the shooting, Walsh provided Gibbins with a series of photographs showing views out of the window, asking whether they accurately represented the view out of Gibbins' window when she's sitting at the breakfast area.

"No. This picture is closer," Gibbins said. "Both of them are. You're not back far enough in these pictures to show where I was sitting ... I watched you take these pictures, but it seems like you're too far ahead in these pictures."

Gibbins agreed her table is against a wall about 10 to 15 feet away from the window.

Gibbins agreed she didn't see any strange cars she was unfamiliar with when she went to check on Munro.

"In fact, you didn't see any people you didn't know or recognize?" Walsh asked. "In fact, you saw no people on your street?"

Walsh pointed out Gibbins' earlier testimony, confirming that Gibbins said Munro would normally leave his house at 5 a.m. to warm up the truck. Gibbins agreed Munro hadn't warmed up his truck on the day of the murder.

"Is it fair to say that on this occasion ... he was running late?" Walsh asked. "So it wasn't his typical schedule?"

Gibbins agreed it wasn't.