Custodial dad found guilty of 1st-degree murder in toddlers' drowning deaths (Detroit, Michigan)

Custodial dad STEVEN LYN JONES has been found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the drowning deaths of his two toddlers. Of course, there is no discussion here of the judges who granted this father custody--a father with a history of domestic violence, child abuse, and substance abuse. That "crime" will remain invisible in the mainstream media discourse, you can count on that.

http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/04/27/news/doc4db831f912436092673769.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Father found guilty of first-degree murder in toddlers' drowning deathsPublished: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

By Peter Jurich
For The Daily Tribune

DETROIT — A 27-year-old Allen Park man was found guilty in Wayne County Circuit Court on Tuesday of drowning his two toddlers.

Judge Vera Massey-Jones ruled that Steven Lyn Nicholson is guilty of one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree child abuse and one count of second-degree murder in the Oct. 19 deaths of Ella Stafford, 15 months, and Johnathon Sanderlin, 13 months, both of whom lived with him. The children had different mothers.

“I came up with the conclusion that this case ought to be called a perfect storm,” Massey-Jones said in her decision. “Being a parent is not easy.”

Massey-Jones said she found Nicholson guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Johnathon because she did not believe he intended to kill the boy. She said Nicholson was “overcome by the stress of being a single parent” and “just wanted to shut him up.”

“Unfortunately, he committed an act that caused him great bodily harm,” she said.

Massey-Jones said, however, that she believed Nicholson intended to kill Ella “in order to establish an alibi.” He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the girl’s death.

Nicholson’s sentencing will be May 13.

“The judge got it right, but that doesn’t do anything for the children,” prosecuting attorney Carin Goldfarb said after the ruling.

Nicholson’s bench trial had entered its third week Monday. Massey-Jones went into deliberations late Tuesday morning after closing arguments were presented by the prosecution and the defense. She gave her ruling about four hours later.

The trial had resumed Monday with police showing a video interrogation of Nicholson that was recorded hours after the children were found dead in his apartment. Continued...

Nicholson had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, punishable by life in prison without parole; two counts of felony murder, punishable by life in prison; and two counts of first-degree child abuse, punishable by a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

The police video showed Nicholson as argumentative and not visibly upset by the deaths. He repeated many times that he was sleeping and did not know what happened the night his children drowned.

“I wouldn’t let accidents happen,” he said. “I’m too strict of a parent. I pride myself on being a great dad.”

Nicholson was interrogated by police Detectives Jeff Miller, James Wilkewitz and William Mehall.

►AUDIO: Father found guilty of first-degree murder talks to police after toddlers found drowned

“What we’ve discovered there and what you’re telling us are not the same thing,” Wilkewitz said in the video. “It’s not consistent.

“For your kids’ sake and your family’s sake, just tell us what happened.”

Nicholson became more confrontational when police asked him if he abused alcohol, saying he did not drink.

When police told him they had heard Ella’s mother, Tayler Stafford, say otherwise, Nicholson called them liars.

“You’re a liar because Tayler knows I don’t drink,” he said.

When Nicholson’s story still did not provide any answers, Wilkewitz told him to “dig down deep and try to tell us the truth.”

“We think that you had a part in this,” Wilkewitz said. “Everything points to the fact that you did have a part in this.”

Wilkewitz told Nicholson that he believed one of two things happened. His first theory was that Nicholson was taking care of two babies and snapped.

“The alternative is this,” Wilkewitz said. “You’re just a cold-blooded killer.”

Nicholson said in the video that there was nothing that would ever make him kill his children.

Massey-Jones cleared the courtroom to go into deliberations after the prosecutor and the defense attorney gave their closing arguments Tuesday morning.

“The defendant was a determined murderer and he was just as determined to get away with it,” the prosecuting attorney said. “In order to believe the defendant’s story, you need to believe that lightning struck at least 10 times.”

Goldfarb presented a list of what she labeled as “lightning strikes” that would have to be true to absolve Nicholson of culpability.

Among other things, her list included:

• “Both babies get out of cribs in the middle of the night.”

• “Both of them head to the bathroom together.”

• “Babies plug up the bathtub.”

• “Babies turn on hot water.”

• “Johnathon puts his head in the water and drowns and then ‘cooks’ in hot water.”

• “Ella either puts her face in the water and drowns or she puts her head into a couple inches of standing water and stays there to drown.”

• “Neither child cries or screams loud enough to be heard.”

Goldfarb also presented a list of evidence that she said points to the scene being staged by Nicholson, and a list of the toddlers’ physical and social abilities.

“The evidence has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that these deaths were homicides,” Goldfarb said. “We’ll never exactly know what was in the defendant’s mind when he killed his babies.”

In his summation, defense attorney William Winters reminded the court that the burden of proof rested with the prosecution.

“No matter how many theories and guesses they want to make and changes in their expert testimony, that’s not going to change the fact that the prosecution has to show this was an inflicted death,” he said.

Winters said he believed Wayne County’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Carl Schmidt, “was making things up as he went along.”

Schmidt, who performed the autopsies on the toddlers, said at a preliminary examination of the evidence against Nicholson that the toddlers drowned in hot water. He said in court that he believed they drowned in room temperature water, followed by scalding.

Schmidt did not waver in his opinion that the deaths were homicides.

“Objective facts show that Mr. Nicholson’s version of what happened makes more sense than the prosecutor’s imaginative theory,” Winters said.

“This is not a part-time dad who watches the kids occasionally. This is a full-time father. This man is going to have to live with the death of his kids for the rest of his life.”