The Hood River County Courthouse shifted into murder hearing mode Monday.
Stephen Wagner Nichols, 40, a Bend man accused of pushing his girlfriend off a cliff to her death six years ago while hiking Eagle Creek Trail, appeared in person with his attorney to advocate his release from jail on bail.
The release hearing (or “bail hearing”) summoned witnesses in law enforcement, asking them to remember the scene of Rhonda Casto’s March 2009 death and the subsequent investigation. It marked Nichols’ first appearance in court since he pled not guilty on May 11 to the murder of Casto.
Court records allege that Nichols tried and failed to collect Casto’s $1 million life insurance policy in 2011.
Security was tight on Monday. The Hood River County Courthouse locked its main entrance and siphoned all public visitors through a basement entrance with a screening room — similar to airport security — managed by Hood River County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
The hearing was part of a series that could stretch on for weeks, according to clerks at the Hood River County Courthouse. The release hearing, which summoned police officials to the witness stand, was scheduled for Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., though Arnold indicated his witnesses would only take a small portion of the allotted time on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nichols is scheduled to stand trial in late May or June of next year — but the release hearing this week could decide if Nichols stays in Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility on a no-bail hold, which has been in place since his arrest in February 2015.
The format of the hearing, with extensive oral testimony, came following a motion for a bail hearing with “live witnesses” that Arnold filed on July 10.
On Monday, Aug. 3, Nichols appeared well groomed and clad in a neat suit, accompanied by attorney Michael Arnold and co-counsel Emilia Gardner, both of Eugene-based Arnold Law.
Arnold and Deputy District Attorney Carrie Rasmussen called officials to the witness stand, where they swore an oath of affirmation and spoke before Judge John Olson.
The scope of the hearing was broad, with witnesses asked to examine evidence regarding the physics and cliff geography involved in Casto’s fall, the management of photographic evidence and the gap in time between Casto’s fall and Nichols’ arrest.
Officials were first alerted to Casto’s death at Eagle Creek Trail near Cascade Locks in March 2009. According to a story in the March 18, 2009, edition of the News, Hood River County 911 received a call on March 16, 2009, from a man, later confirmed to be Nichols, who said he had accompanied Casto on a hike when she accidentally fell to her death.
According to a dispatch transcript filed in court, Nichols said he climbed down to Casto and attempted to give her CPR.
“I went down to get her. I went to the bottom. I fell in the river trying to get over to her … took me about an hour to get her. I finally got over to her, then I was startin’ to shake,” said Nichols, according to the transcript.
According to testimony Monday, police found Nichols in a Blue Mazda at the trailhead parking lot, wrapped in a blanket and shivering.
The lead investigator at the time was Detective Gerry Tiffany with the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, who retired in summer of 2012.
Tiffany was called to the witness stand. When asked about the night of Casto’s death, Tiffany said police initially responded as a search and rescue assignment. It became a murder investigation following Casto’s autopsy.
He said the likelihood Casto was pushed was “more likely than not at the time” but the testimony did not reveal conclusively why the investigation had not immediately lead to Nichols’ arrest.
Hood River County Sheriff Matt English was also called to the witness stand.
“How many murder investigations had you been a part of at that time?” asked Arnold.
English said it was his first murder investigation. He was a deputy at the time, and officially became a detective at the autopsy of Casto, he said.
“I responded to the call as a deputy; I wasn’t a detective at the time … I was set to move into detective — which is an assignment in this organization — to happen in April,” said English.
English said Gerry Tiffany was the lead investigator, so he didn’t have enough facts to conclude probable cause of murder at the time.
It was not made clear in court what lead to Nichols being charged with murder via a secret indictment handed down April 2014, according to court records — 10 months before he was ultimately arrested in February. Officers arrested Nichols at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 2 on a nationwide felony warrant after arriving from China.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.