An Elkhart County jury will hear closing arguments Friday in the murder case against Nicolas Stanley, charged with murdering the man who molested his family member. The judge made a ruling Thursday that could hurt Stanley’s case.
Outside the jury’s presence late Thursday, Judge Michael Christofeno told the state and defense that he won’t instruct the jury that they can convict Stanley on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Christofeno said that’s because he thinks the evidence shows that Stanley acted deliberately in fatally shooting Allen Cogswell in his room at the DayLite motel.
The judge said he doesn’t think Stanley’s actions met the legal standard for committing a crime in “sudden heat.”
But Stanley’s attorney, Vincent Campiti, told Christofeno he’s wrong, and that the Supreme Court has ruled that only a jury, not a judge, can determine whether a defendant acted in sudden heat.
Prosecutor Vicki Becker said his ruling meant the case was suddenly less complex so she wanted to give closing arguments late Thursday but Campiti said he was so shocked by the ruling that he wanted to give closing arguments Friday morning. And the judge agreed to reconvene in the morning.
