Judge grants Deborah Nicholls change of venue

A woman accused of felony theft, witness intimidation and drug possession arising out of a fatal fire that killed her three children will be tried outside the Pikes Peak region.

Fourth Judicial District Judge G. David Miller agreed today with the defense attorney for Deborah Nicholls that news coverage and public comment on the 2003 arson fire and the recent first-degree murder conviction of her husband in the children’s death precluded her from getting a fair trial in the district, which encompasses El Paso and Teller counties.

Nicholls, 40, is scheduled to stand trial Aug. 13, and the most serious charges could result in a maximum six-year prison sentence.

Miller obliquely acknowledged his ruling was unusual — telling attorneys he would allow them to “catch their breaths” — because few change-of-venue requests are granted in this jurisdiction.

But he said several factors conspired to force Deborah Nichols’ trial to be held elsewhere, “one of those million-to-one type of cases”:

-“Gavel to gavel” coverage by The Gazette of the seven-week trial of Timothy Nicholls, which ended just two and half months ago. Nichols received life in prison for the deaths of the couple’s children, ages 11, 5 and 3. Miller presided over Timothy Nicholls’ trial.

-Testimony in that trial that Deborah Nicholls was involved in planning the death of her children, a crime for which she has not been charged. She was not home at the time of the early-morning fire March 7, 2003, at 4107 Undimmed Circle.

-News reports that Deborah Nicholls, when called to testify in her husband’s trial, cited her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

-Numerous vituperative comments about Deborah Nicholls on The Gazette’s online forum, including one that said she should be “lynched.”

Miller indicated he will ask the district’s chief judge that he be allowed to oversee Deborah Nicholls’ trial.

He and attorneys for Nicholls and the state will meet Monday to discuss a possible location for the trial. He said he’d like the trial — expected to last one to two weeks — to be as close as possible. But he ruled out Pueblo and Castle Rock as being within the coverage area of Springs’ media.

The grand jury that indicted Timothy Nicholls also indicted Deborah Nicholls on the theft and drug possession charges in connection with the fire. Investigators allege she tried to defraud her insurance company by making a claim for a car that was not damaged in the fire.

She was later arrested for threatening her mother, a Colorado Springs psychologist.

Deborah Nicholls remains free on $120,000 bail.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com