Nicholas Stanley

Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker on Friday said she's confident that Nicholas Stanley will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering 38-year-old Allen Cogswell in revenge for molesting Stanley's family member.

Nicholas Stanley's defense attorney, Vincent Campiti, on Thursday told Elkhart Circuit Judge Michael Christofeno that he was wrong, and risks a retrial, for refusing to tell the jury that they can convict Stanley on the lesser charge of manslaughter for acting in "sudden heat."

Jury selection started Monday in Elkhart Circuit Court in the murder trial of Nicholas Stanley, charged in the slaying of convicted sex offender Allen Cogswell, who had molested Stanley's relative.

Elkhart County prosecutors say 35-year-old Nicholas Stanley fatally shot Allen Cogswell, also 35, at the Daylite Inn, after Cogswell was released early from prison for molesting Stanley's female relative.