Bond hearing continues for mother whose 30-year-old murder convictions were vacated

Although a jury convicted Deborah Nicholls and her husband Tim of triple homicide in 2003, she has maintained the house fire that killed their three children was accidental.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CN) — Two months ago, a state judge vacated a triple murder conviction against a mother accused of murdering her children in a Colorado Springs, Colorado, house fire more than three decades ago. Now, she must wait until mid-October for the fourth day of her bond hearing.“I’m worried about that date being so far away,” said defense attorney Kathleen Anne Lord, who practices for the University of Colorado School of Law Korey Wise Innocence Project.Lord has represented Deborah Nicholls since March 2021, working to convince the justice system the jury that convicted her of murdering her three children three decades ago was wrong.On March 7, 2003, 11-year-old Jay, 5-year-old Sophia and 3-year-old Sierra all tragically perished in a house fire.Nicholls maintains her innocence, saying the fire was an accident, likely caused by candles she lit after cleaning the house.Prosecutors, however, countered that Nicholls and her husband Tim conspired to douse the furniture in chemical cleaners and torch the house to collect insurance proceeds to pay off drug debt — a story corroborated by a jailhouse informant who testified to hearing Tim Nicholls confess.Convinced by prosecutors’ evidence of arson, a jury convicted Deborah Nicholls of her children’s murder in 2008. Her husband was similarly convicted in 2007. They are both serving life sentences and lost their initial appeals.The revelation of a 2007 report from a Colorado Bureau of Investigation analyst, however, prompted Senior District Judge Robert Mullins to hold a weeklong Brady hearing in 2025. In April, Mullins determined the failure to disclose the report violated Nicholls’ right to a fair trial. Four months later, Mullins formally vacated Nicholls’ conviction. The Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office appealed while Deborah Nicholls asked to be released on bond.Wednesday marked the third of what will be a four-day bond hearing. While the hearing began at the beginning of September, the fourth hearing day won’t occur until mid-October.Deborah Nicholls’ defense kicked off the hearing Wednesday by calling her sister, Tonya Hartman, to testify about the grief of losing her children. Prosecutors then called on the fire investigators and detectives who gathered the original evidence supporting the charges.On the stand Wednesday, fire investigator Jeff Berino stood by his fire report three decades later, while Lord challenged the reliability of his sources and potential bias against the Nicholls, who had originally hired him.Berino recalled that Tim Nicholls’ account of the fire “didn’t add up scientifically or logically,” and that the first thing Deborah Nicholls asked him was, “where’s my money,” after mistaking him for a representative from the insurance company.Lord pressed Berino on whether he would still believe the Nicholls were guilty of arson and murder if the assumptions he relied on turned out to be false.“What if you found out she wasn’t partying, what if she was grieving, and what if the person she was with said ‘you don’t have to go to the funeral, people will understand,’” Lord asked. “Would it make a difference to you if it turned out Mrs. Nicholls’ insurer contacted her during an audit, rather than her calling the insurance company to ask about her policy?”Berino entertained the possibilities, but stood by his original conclusion, based on his gut feeling and confirmed by his investigation.In order allow prosecutors more time to present their final witness, Fourth Judicial District Judge Catherine Helton scheduled the bond hearing to continue at 1:30 pm on Oct. 13.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads