Colorado judge denies bond to woman convicted in 2008 of murdering her children

Deborah Nicholls was granted a new trial after a judge discovered Brady violations in her first trial.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CN) — A Colorado judge on Friday denied bond to a woman granted a new trial over the deaths of her children in 2003.Given a life sentence in 2008, Deborah Nicholls has so far spent 18 years in jail over the house fire deaths of her children Jay, 11, Sophia, 5, and Sierra, 3. Nicholls maintains that the fire was an accident.Earlier this year, a state judge ruled Nicholls’ Brady rights had been violated at her original trial and granted her a new one. Under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors are required to turn over all evidence that may help prove a defendant’s innocence.That raised the question of whether Nicholls should be released pending her new trial. In a 19-hour bond hearing spanning more than five days over the course of two months, prosecutors called fire investigators and detectives to review the decades-old incident.After hearing the evidence, Fourth Judicial District Judge Catherine Helton decided on Friday that Nicholls should be held without bail. In her decision, she said there was a “fair likelihood” that she would get another guilty verdict.The deadly house fire happened on March 7, 2003. Earlier that day, Nicholls had cleaned her house and lit candles before going to work at a karaoke bar.Prosecutors say Nicholls and her husband Tim conspired to douse the furniture in chemical cleaners and torch the house to collect insurance proceeds to pay off drug debt. Jailhouse informant Hiram Church testified to hearing Tim Nicholls confess.Tim Nicholls was similarly convicted in 2007. He’s also facing a life sentence after both lost initial appeals.Controversy over Deborah Nicholls’ initial trial arose in 2023, after it was revealed that a Colorado Bureau Investigation analyst in 2007 had raised doubts about the prosecutor’s version of events. That analyst, Tom Griffin, said he had not found evidence of fire accelerants.After a weeklong Brady hearing, Senior District Judge Robert Mullins determined prosecutors had violated Nicholls’ Brady rights when they failed to disclose an expert report that could have corroborated Nicholls’ defense arguments.Mullins noted that without a solid theory of arson, other evidence against Nicholls — including the alleged jailhouse confession and her apparent lack of grief about her children’s deaths — was not enough for a conviction. In August, he granted her a new trial, teeing up a complex bond hearing to determine whether Nicholls should be released in the meantime.Through the marathon hearing, defense attorney Janene McCabe argued the charges against Deborah Nicholls stemmed from Church’s unreliable testimony.“Everything the charges stand on relies on hearsay from Hiram Church," she argued. “Even if the prosecution could prove arson, it doesn’t matter because Deb wasn’t there.”But Helton was unconvinced, noting the jury was aware of Church’s questionable reliability during the original trial and that police corroborated his testimony with other sources.There was also evidence of Nicholls’ financial problems and drug use, the Jared Polis appointee observed, which provided a motive without Church’s testimony. The judge also called it “concerning” that Nicholls left a gravely injured child in the hospital after the fire to drive to Denver, where her husband had been sent for treatment.Nicholls’ defense attorneys argued it was wrong to expect the behavior of a grieving mother to be normal. But Helton said investigators assessments of Nicholls were relevant. Also relevant were cans of flammable Goof Off cleaner found in the home and the fact that the garage door had been left partially open.Ultimately, Henton agreed with Fourth Judicial Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Redfield that bond for Nicholls should be denied. Dates for the new trial have not yet been set.Categories / Appeals, CriminalSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads