Jury finds Nielsen guilty of capital murder
Cody Lynn Nielsen showed no emotion as a judge read five guilty verdicts, including one for the murder of 15-year-old Trisha Ann Autry in June 2000, in the First District Courthouse in Logan Wednesday.
After four hours of deliberation, a six-woman, six-man jury convicted Nielsen of five counts: Capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping and two counts of desecration of a human body. Special prosecutor Scott Wyatt said his team will encourage the jury to sentence Nielsen to death when the penalty phase of the trial begins next week.
“It’s a tremendous relief,” Wyatt said of the verdicts. “Justice was done. Now it’s time to start moving on to the penalty phase.”
The Autry family sat silently as the verdicts were read while Nielsen’s family across the room silently cried.
JoAnn Autry, Trisha’s mother, who sat clutching two 2-by-3 inch photos of her daughter throughout Wednesday’s closing arguments, said she was relieved but didn’t want to talk to the public until after Nielsen is sentenced.
Defense attorney Shannon Demler said he and Nielsen were disappointed by the verdict, but had prepared themselves for it.
“The marks on the bones were just something we couldn’t overcome,” Demler said of the cut marks on bones presented during the trial that are assumed to be Autry’s. “And, obviously the circumstantial evidence was hard to deal with.”
Prosecutors have accused Nielsen of kidnapping Autry the morning of June 24, 2000, and killing her at or near the Predator Research Laboratory in Millville. From there, they say Nielsen cut her body into small pieces and buried her in a 20-foot hole that Wyatt calls the “deep pit.” In October 2000, prosecutors say he dug up the body, burned and buried it near his “giant fire.”
Police and investigators found an entire jawbone, other small bone fragments and pieces of clothing in May 2001 near the site Nielsen allegedly burned the body. The jawbone has been verified through dental records to be Autry’s and JoAnn Autry testified the clothing was her daughters.
The verdicts were announced at about 4:45 p.m. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had spent the morning giving closing arguments and the jury – all from the Brigham City area – started deliberating at noon.
“I think he handled it well,” Demler said of his client. “He was obviously upset, but was controlled.”
Demler, who presented no evidence, called no witnesses and gave only a 15 to 20 minute closing argument, said Nielsen will most likely testify next week. Many had expected Nielsen to testify Tuesday, but Demler said his client changed his mind over the weekend.
“The jury hasn’t heard his side of the story yet,” Demler said. “They haven’t seen some of his qualities … hopefully they’ll at least spare his life. If someone’s going to ask to save his life, I think he should be the best person.”
During closing arguments, Wyatt told the jury to remember that none of the witnesses contradicted each other, and that all the evidence pointed toward Nielsen’s guilt.
“The fact that [Nielsen] destroyed the evidence of how he murdered her does not make him immune to justice,” Wyatt told the jury.
Wyatt also said circumstantial evidence has the same weight legally as proven evidence.
“[Circumstantial evidence] is all we will ever have in a murder case,” he said. “It was a remote location with no witnesses.”
During the initial phase, Wyatt brought witnesses, including Autry’s sister, who testified Trisha said she was terrified of a man named Sam with a green truck who was stalking her. Nielsen allegedly told people he was “sometimes known as ‘Sam.'” He also owned a green truck.
Demler told the jury during his closing argument they had to decide on the facts from what they heard from the witness stand, not from Wyatt, and the evidence from the witness stand had holes in it.
“How did she die?” he asked. “We don’t know because the state didn’t present any evidence of how she died. Where did she die? When did she die? Where is the evidence?”
Demler also asked why no evidence of blood samples, DNA or fingerprints have been found.
“You should be concerned about unanswered questions,” he told the jury. “No evidence is not circumstantial evidence. You’ve got no evidence.”
Wyatt countered by saying if Nielsen spent so much time trying to hide Autry’s body, he would have spent as much time hiding the evidence.
“Don’t reward him for that,” he said. “Find the defendant guilty because he is.”
The jury was presented with and accepted an additional aggravating factor Thursday that will be considered as evidence during the penalty phase next week. In 1995 Nielsen was convicted of threatening a law officer with physical violence while under arrest after a domestic violence situation. Threatening while being held a prisoner is a felony offense.
Wyatt said he hopes Nielsen takes the stand next week.
“I hope they [put him up there],” he said. “I’d like to hear him talk.”
-emilieholmes@cc.usu.edu
Prosecting Attorney Scott Wyatt, left, talks with JoAnn Autry, the mother of Trisha Autry, at the trial of Cody Nielsen after the guilty verdit was given. (AP Photo by Eli Lucero)