David Nickels found guilty of murder

EPHRATA - David Nickels was found guilty of shooting Sage Munro, a construction worker and father, outside of his Ephrata home.

A jury convicted Nickels, 31, Helena, Mont., of first-degree murder Thursday afternoon after deliberating for roughly five days and listening to about six weeks of testimony.

Defense attorneys Jackie Walsh and Mark Larrañaga were not present in the courtroom at the time of sentencing. They were listening on a conference call to the verdict. Moses Lake attorney Garth Dano sat at the defense table with Nickels when the verdict came in.

Members of Munro's family cried as the verdict was read. Nearly three years after her brother was shot, Harmony Smith said the verdict was a long time in coming.

"I'm glad to have it done," she said. "The trial and everything was very hard on our family and we all want it to be done and be able to close that door and move forward."

Nickels' sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18. He has one prior felony conviction for theft, and faces a sentencing range of about 22 years to 27 years in prison.

Deputy Prosecutor Tyson Hill is happy for Munro's family, he said; adding it was a great investigation and the citizens of Grant County should be proud.

"They can finally have some closure, and especially grateful to law enforcement," Hill said. "There was a lot of emotion for us, for the officers, for the family ... The most rewarding moment of my career was seeing the family after the verdict."

Neither Walsh or Larrañaga was available for comment before deadline.

Nickels shot Munro because the Ephrata man was dating Marita Messick, Nickels' ex-girlfriend, Hill said in opening statements. He called Nickels obsessed and jealous.

The relationship started when she was 16 and he was 23, after they met at a party. Hill called the relationship troubled, difficult and difficult to explain. Nickels would send her text messages and call her repeatedly and when she didn't respond he would send more messages and continue to call. If she still didn't answer, he would go to her house in the night.

When Nickels and Messick broke up, it didn't end the relationship, Hill said. The two continued to contact each other and have intercourse. Nickels continued to be possessive and jealous. When Messick started another relationship, Nickels showed her a photograph of the man's house.

"(Nickels) told her, 'If you don't stop seeing him, I will burn (his) house to the ground with (him) and his parents in it," Hill said. "He told her around the same time he showed her the photograph ... that if she ever stopped contact with him, he would hurt someone that she loved."

Messick stopped the new relationship, continuing the relationship with Nickels until she moved to Ephrata and met Munro, Hill said. The relationship started in June 2009.

Nickels learned about the relationship soon afterwards, but they did continue to speak to each other, he said.

The situation began to escalate in November and December 2009, he said in closing arguments. Nickels visited Rex Lain, who had recently been released from prison after serving 17 years for manslaughter. On the visit, Nickels asked Lain if he would kill someone for him.

Hill turned to Nickels' unannounced trip to Spokane when he made one more attempt to restart his relationship with Marita Messick.

"Marita Messick's response was these kind of meetings have to stop," Hill said. "So the defendant lied, he made her essentially a promise, 'If you come and see me this one last time. I will leave you alone.'"

Messick went to Spokane, met with Nickels where he bought her about $1,000 worth of presents before taking her back to a hotel room. When they arrived, he showed her a stack of $100 bills and made a proposition.

"(He said,) 'Be with me. We can go to Las Vegas or anywhere you want to go. Think of all the money,'" Hill said. "Her response after that ... was to tell him, 'I don't want your money. I'd rather be with Sage with nothing than have all your money.'"

The situation became worse less than two weeks before the murder after Messick visited Montana. She met with Nickels a couple of times, but still refused his advances. When she left without saying good bye to him, he posted an advertisement on Craigslist looking for a gun within five days of the murder. He used his e-mail account for the advertisement and used his phone number in it.

The day before the murder Nickels left Helena. Detectives tracked his cellphone connecting with various towers as he made his way to Spokane. Between the time Nickels received his last call and when he received a call from Messick at 8:51 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2009 Nickels drove to Ephrata and shot Munro.

When Messick called Nickels and asked him where he was, Nickels responded he was in Great Falls, Mont.

Nickels initially told police he visited Lain in Wyoming. When Nickels called Lain, with officers in the car, Lain said Nickels wasn't in Wyoming and had left before Christmas. Nickels changed his story, saying he was in Great Falls, Hill said.

"When officers ask him for any kind of specifics, 'Who did you see? Where did you go? What did you do? Where did you stay? Who did you stay with?' He's got nothing," Hill said.

Nickels told Erick Alsager he was being investigated for murder because he shot a man in the chest in Washington because the man was dating Messick, Hill said. The confession happened prior to police talking to Nickels.

"Ask yourself, 'What Erick Alsager's motivation is for testifying in this trial?' Look at the details ... how would someone know that Sage was shot in the chest? Maybe he read it somewhere," Hill said. "What about that second one, 'He didn't see it coming.' How could he, or would he say something like that unless he knew because he was the one who pulled the trigger."

Hill pointed out the handcuffs found on Munro's lawn. When the DNA on the handcuffs was tested, Nickels DNA was included. None of the other people involved in the case could be included.

"When they look at DNA, they look at 13 distinctive points on the DNA strand, in order. Each one of those points has a number, much greater than zero to nine," Hill said, referring to a hypothetical example using various telephone numbers. "At each point, there would be a mixture of three numbers one for each contributor ... When they took the defendant's DNA and compared it, in order, every single one of his numbers matched."

Hill argued Nickels' DNA was on the handcuffs.

"The defendant, David Nickels, murdered Sage," Hill said.