Murder trial recesses until Tuesday
Prosecutors for the Cody Lynn Nielsen capital murder trial rested their case today after three days of calling witnesses in the First District Court in Logan. First District Judge Clint S. Judkins also denied a motion by the defense team to dismiss charges against Nielsen.
Nielsen is charged with kidnapping and murdering 15-year-old Trisha Ann Autry in June 2000. Autry’s remains were found in May 2001 near a facility where Nielsen worked in Millville as a maintenance man.
Judkins recessed the court until Tuesday morning at 9. Special Prosecutor for the Cache Attorney’s Office Scott Wyatt had been expected to call witnesses into Friday, so the defense team hadn’t scheduled any witnesses until next week, Defense Attorney A.W. Lauritzen said.
Wyatt said the prosecution has two more witnesses they may call after the defense finishes its case next week.
Thursday’s testimonies lasted less than three hours – compared to Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s sessions, which lasted from 9 a.m. into the late afternoon.
The prosecuting team called two witnesses Thursday. Shannon Novak, a research assistant professor at the University of Utah’s department of anthropology, spent about two hours on the stand. Autry’s mother, JoAnn, took the stand briefly to tell the jury she did not allow the defendant to take her daughter.
“I didn’t even know him,” JoAnn said, who had also testified earlier in the week.
Novak, who said her primary research involves trauma analysis of human bones, said the remains recovered exhibit evidence of an external force, or trauma. She said most of the bones recovered had been cut, fractured and burned close to the time of death.
Novak studied the remains at least a year prior to the trial, Wyatt said. Novak was sent the bones to examine by the state medical examiners office.
She testified of “large chopping marks that could have been made by an ax or hatchet” in the upper right thigh bone and “horizontal cut marks” in the jawbone apparently made while trying to cut the muscle connecting the jawbone with the rest of the head. She also said most of the remains had been burned.
“The cuts occurred before the breaking – and then the burning,” she said. “Cutting, fracturing, burning. It’s a sequence.”
The injuries inflicted on the remains indicated the body had been dismembered, Novak said.
“Usually when dismembering, they cut off large parts of the body first – such as the head, arms and legs – and then cut those into smaller … more manageable parts, if you will,” Novak said.
Dr. Todd Grey, Utah’s chief medical examiner, testified Wednesday that this is the most extreme case of post-mortem dismemberment he has seen, Wyatt said. Autry’s dental records have confirmed the jawbone as hers.
Autry’s remains have been examined by numerous specialists, including the Utah State University anthropology department.
Wyatt said there is speculation that Nielsen will take the stand Tuesday. If so, jurors might hear him testify of reported conversations with Cache County sheriff’s deputies in a January 2003 jail conversation. Judkins ruled the conversation can be used as evidence if Nielsen testifies.
“[The defense] has indicated that the defendant will testify,” Wyatt said.
Nielsen allegedly told the deputies he had consensual sex with Autry and was with her when she died, but that the death was an accident.
The admission came just after pleading guilty to capital murder. Nielsen has since changed that plea to not guilty. He did plead guilty in 2002 to having unlawful sexual activity with the teenager.
“The defendant went to the investigators three separate times wanting to talk,” Wyatt said. The first two times, he said, the investigators told him to bring his attorneys to talk, but he never did. The third time was when the alleged admissions took place.
Wyatt said if Nielsen takes the stand Tuesday, the defense will probably spend about an hour questioning.
“Then, we’ll cross-examine,” he said. “And, things will be different.”
-emilieholmes@cc.usu.edu
Cody Nielsen and Defense Attorney A.W. Lauritzen listen to testimony in Tuesday´s trial. Nielsen is accused of murdering Trisha Autry, a 15-year-old Hyrum girl, in June 2000. Her body was found May 2001 in Millville, near where Nielsen worked. (Photo by Eli Lucero)