COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A woman accused of killing her three children by burning down her home for insurance money was found guilty Monday of three counts of first-degree murder and other charges.
Jurors deliberated less than three hours before convicting 41-year-old Deborah Nicholls of 14 of the 15 felony charges against her. They got the case just before 2 p.m. after each side made closing arguments.
The trial lasted six weeks.
Nicholls was charged with 15 felonies, including arson and child abuse, in connection with the March 7, 2003, fire at her family’s home that killed Jay, 11, Sophia, 5, and Sierra, 3. She was found not guilty of just one of them—a cocaine possession charge.
Nicholls faces life in prison without parole at her Dec. 3 sentencing hearing. Deputy Public Defender Jeff Schwartz said an appeal is planned.
Prosecutors argued Nicholls and her husband, Timothy, were on the brink of financial ruin and addicted to methamphetamine when they came up with the plan to defraud their insurance company.
They said the couple doused their furniture with a highly flammable cleaning solution, then had the children sit on the furniture before Tim Nicholls torched the house.
“People who commit a cold-blooded act feel nothing for those they have made suffer,” Assistant District Attorney Amy Mullaney said during closing arguments. “And these children did suffer.”
Mullaney said Deborah Nicholls’ only concern after the fire was getting more money. Nicholls received $6,500 from American Family Insurance within days of the fire, and the community raised more than $38,000 in three months for the children’s memorial fund.
“That wasn’t enough,” Mullaney said. “It’s all about the money.”
She also noted that Nicholls didn’t attend her children’s funeral and was seen laughing and joking just days after the fire.
“It’s difficult to act like you’re grieving if you don’t feel it,” Mullaney said.
Deborah Nicholls’ attorneys maintained the fire was a tragic accident. They said Nicholls loved her children, had nothing to do with the blaze, and chose to do her grieving in private.
Deputy Public Defender Cindy Jones told jurors that prosecutors presented no physical evidence that linked Deborah Nicholls to the fire, and were trying to get a conviction based on her behavior after the blaze.
“They’re saying, ‘We’re not sure we like the way she reacted, and her demeanor didn’t seem appropriate,'” Jones said Monday. “That’s not what we’re here to decide. That’s not evidence of anything.”
Timothy Nicholls was convicted in May 2007 of three counts of felony murder and is serving three life sentences.
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Information from: The Gazette,
