ELLA GRACE STAFFORD & JONATHON SANDERLIN - 1 yo (2010) - Allen Park (SW Detroit) MI

A bench trial is under way today for an Allen Park man charged with scalding and drowning his two young children. Steven
Nicholson, 27, waived his right to a jury and will instead allow Wayne
County Circuit Judge Vera Massey Jones to sit alone in judgment of his
guilt or innocence of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree
child abuse for the October deaths of 15-month-old Ella Stafford and her
13-month-old half brother, Jonathon Sanderlin. Nicholson is accused of killing the toddlers in his apartment
bathtub. He has said they must have wandered and turned on the tub's hot
water while he slept.



Wayne County's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Carl Schmidt is expected to
testify that the toddlers died as a result of intentional drowning. The
prosecutor has said the children were "tortured." However,
before the trial began this morning, Circuit Judge Thomas Jackson
stepped into Jones' courtroom to rule on whether to allow witness
accusations in the trial that Nicholson abused Jonathon prior to the
deaths. Jones wasn't allowed to handle the motion because she is now the
one who must judge the evidence to be presented. Assistant
Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb said she hopes to present witnesses who will
say Nicholson previously hit, punched, kicked, pushed and dragged
Jonathon by his arm. "While not witnesses to the ultimate murder, they are witnesses of the child abuse that led to the murders," Goldfarb said. Defense lawyer William Winters argued that the testimony was prejudicial and inappropriate. "They
called this a murder, but there is absolutely no evidence that these
deaths were anything other than accidental. There is no evidence of any
trauma, other than scalding that likely happened after the deaths,"
Winters said. Jackson said he would allow Jones to hear the testimony. "I find that evidence may be admitted. I find it has a proper purpose to show past conduct," Jackson said.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110411/METRO01/104110361/Bench-trial-starts-in-deaths-of-2-Allen-Park-toddlers#ixzz1JH8G76MM

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.

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.”

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

DETROIT — An Allen Park man found guilty of drowning his two toddlers
was sentenced Friday morning to life in prison, concluding a trial that
began April 11.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Vera Massey-Jones
sentenced Steven Lyn Nicholson, 27, to life in prison without parole for
first-degree felony murder, 25 years for second-degree murder and one
to 15 years for first-degree child abuse.

Nicholson, 27, was
convicted in the Oct. 19 deaths of his children, Ella Stafford, 15
months, and Johnathon Sanderlin, 13 months.

Both children, who had different mothers, lived with Nicholson at Valley Springs Apartments, 11330 Old Goddard Road.

Nicholson told the judge that the only one who knows he is innocent is God.

“God gives me the comfort alone,” he said. “I made a tragic mistake. I ask for forgiveness.”

It
was early on that October morning that Nicholson’s children were found
dead in his bathroom — Johnathon, in the bathtub, and Ella, on the
floor.

Both children had been scalded by hot water.

Nicholson’s
defense attorney, William Winters, argued during the trial that the
children were playing in the bathroom and that their deaths were
accidental.

Nicholson said he was sleeping when the deaths occurred. Continued...

http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2011/05/14/news/doc4dcd8c8ad8827148380968.txt