New evidence cited in tainted-drug case
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Attorney Carl Colbert believes Stella Nickell didn't kill her husband with cyanide-laced Excedrin. And he believes he now has the evidence to prove it.
The Gig Harbor lawyer filed a motion yesterday asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to reopen the case.
Citing more than 1,000 pages of documents uncovered by private investigators, Colbert said there is "overwhelming evidence" that the Auburn woman was wrongly convicted in 1988 of violating federal anti-tampering laws.
"The idea of having her rot in there really bothers me," said Colbert, referring to Nickell's stay at a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., where she is serving two 90-year sentences concurrently.
The FBI in Seattle declined comment.
The prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joanne Maida, could not be reached for comment. She wrote in a letter last month to a "48 Hours" news reporter that the accusations against the FBI were "a rash conclusion drawn without basis in the specific facts of Ms. Nickell's trial."
Nickell was convicted in the death of her husband, Bruce, who died 15 years ago today after ingesting Extra Strength Excedrin that had been laced with cyanide. An Auburn woman, Sue Snow, whom Nickell did not know, died the same way soon after.
Maida argued at the trial that Nickell first poisoned her husband and then tampered with Excedrin bottles at local stores to deflect blame.
The documents were discovered during a Freedom of Information Act request in an unrelated case by Frederic Whitehurst, an FBI whistle-blower who exposed misconduct in the bureau's Washington, D.C., crime laboratory. Whitehurst turned the documents over to the Nickell defense team.
Seattle private investigator A.L. Farr, a member of the defense team, said the documents contained proof that FBI investigators withheld information regarding the purchase of the Excedrin.
Included in the motion to reopen the case were declarations by two of Nickell's neighbors, which the defense team said showed FBI misconduct. In one statement, Anna Jo Rider said she moved to Las Vegas after FBI agent Jack Cusack told her Nickell was going to hire a hit man to kill her. In the other statement, Sandy Scott said Cusack asked her to monitor Nickell, her neighbor, and search for incriminating evidence.
The defense team also argued that the incriminating testimony of Nickell's daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, was tainted because Hamilton had been paid $250,000 from the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association, which gave financial rewards to people who came forward with information about the case. The daughter had testified that her mother repeatedly talked about ways to kill her father.
And they said the testimony of FBI chemist Roger Martz was also flawed. Martz testified that residue from an algae killer Nickell had purchased for her fish tank showed up on the contaminated Excedrin.
"Martz didn't even have a degree in chemistry. He had a degree in biology," Farr said.
Gina Kim can be reached at 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com.