Two slaying trials kick off this week

Two of the biggest trials not only of 2008, but in at least a decade, will start this week at the Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex.

One involves the man accused of torching a Colorado Springs apartment complex in January 2007, killing two people and leaving hundreds homeless. The other is for a Colorado Springs woman accused of killing her three young children for insurance money in 2003.

Fourth Judicial District Jury Commissioner Dennis McKinney has summoned 2,650 potential jurors for this week - almost 1,000 more than in any other week in the courthouse's history.

At one point, the trials, which both defense attorneys asked to have moved out of El Paso County because of the amount of pre-trial publicity, were scheduled to start Tuesday.

But McKinney objected.

"I had to look at my situation and how was I going to get all these people in here," he said last week.

So 4th Judicial District Judge Jann DuBois moved the Castle West Apartments arson trial to Thursday and will start it in the Jury Assembly Room because the room can hold 300 potential jurors at a time.

"We ordered more jurors than we need," McKinney said, acknowledging the Castle West trial will take a juror away from normal life for two to three months.

"I've been doing this for 10 years and never seen anything like it," he said.

Here are summaries of the two trials:

The People v. Deborah Nicholls

Colorado Springs Fire Department arson investigators were suspicious about the March 7, 2003, fire at 4107 Undimmed Circle - the home of Timothy and Deborah Nicholls and their three young children - almost from the get-go, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Timothy Nicholls was outside the house when firefighters arrived just after 2 a.m.

"He leaps out the window and saves himself but leaves the children inside," Assistant District Attorney Amy Mullaney said in a motions hearing last week.

Two of the children, 11-year-old Jay and 3-year-old Sierra, never made it out of their Village Seven home alive. Sophia, 5, later died at Memorial Hospital.

Timothy Nicholls, 38, is serving three life sentences after an El Paso County jury convicted him last year of murder in the children's deaths.

In that trial, witnesses described how the couple had severe financial troubles, likely because of their methamphetamine addiction. A witness testified Deborah Nicholls used an average of $500 worth of the drug a week.

A key witness in the trial, jail informant Hiram Church, testified that Timothy Nicholls told him the couple wanted to burn the house down and kill the children to collect insurance money to pay off drug debts.

The couple put "Goof Off," a highly flammable cleaning solution, on the furniture and sofa, Church testified. Then they had the children sit on the sofa, he testified.

Traces of the solution were found in the house and on the children's clothing, investigators testified.

Deborah Nicholls, 41, was at a bar that night.

She was originally indicted by a grand jury in 2005 on charges of witness tampering, drug possession and felony attempted theft, alleging she tried to collect insurance money for a car she falsely claimed was damaged in the fire.

But after Timothy Nicholls' trial, prosecutors called another grand jury. That one handed down indictments against Deborah Nicholls on 11 felony charges, including first-degree murder. She was arrested in November on those charges and has been held without bond since.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Pelican ruled prosecutors will be able to use Hiram Church as a witness and that he will be allowed to testify about incriminating statements Timothy Nicholls told him Deborah Nicholls made.

Deborah Nicholls' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Cindy Jones, told Pelican last week Timothy Nicholls will not testify and will instead exercise his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Deborah Nicholls has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

The People v. Derrick Johnson

Two men were killed and hundreds were left homeless in the wake of a jealous man's rage, Colorado Springs police allege.

Derrick "Nicky" Johnson, 25, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, arson and attempted murder in connection with the Jan. 16, 2007, fire at the Castle West Apartments, near Academy Boulevard and Uintah Street.

The 135-unit complex was engulfed in flames early that morning, forcing hundreds into the freezing winter night. Joe Santoyo, 52, and Clemente Perez Salgado, 32, died in the fire. The complex was destroyed.

Colorado Springs police allege Johnson was upset his girlfriend threatened to leave him, according to the arrest affidavit. She told police he had sent her messages earlier that night threatening to kill her, blow up the building and torture the couple's baby by "putting it on a barbeque grill and burning it," according to an affidavit. The woman was staying at Castle West that night.

The suspect poured gasoline purchased at a nearby 7-Eleven store in the first-floor hallway, police allege.

Deputy District Attorneys Margaret Vellar and Donna Billek have a strong case against Johnson. Not only will they call the girlfriend who received the threats, they have the man who drove Johnson to the 7-Eleven to get the gas - and store security tapes showing him buying it - then driving him to the Castle West complex.

About 250 witnesses could be called.

DuBois also ruled, over Johnson's attorney's objections, jurors will get to hear statements Johnson made to police blaming his cousin for the fire and leading investigators to evidence in the case.

Court-appointed attorneys Rick Levinson, Ann Kaufman and Shimon Kohn, originally wanted a psychologist to testify and tell jurors about Johnson's low IQ. But that would have opened all his medical and mental health files to prosecutors. They changed their minds late last month and withdrew the request.

In a July letter to The Gazette from the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center, Johnson pleaded his case.

"I would like your readers to know that I'm not some insane, gangmember, pyro and most of all not stupid enough to do something so reckless and careless," Johnson wrote.

"The media portrays me as some kind of bad guy. I'm nothing like that."

Attorneys and Judge DuBois will question potential jurors from a pool of 625 who have been summoned for the trial that will likely take weeks.

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Contact the writer: dennis.huspeni@gazette.com or 636-0110.