Nixon trial begins; former girlfriend of convicted murderer testifies

The former girlfriend of convicted murderer Robert Lake testified Monday that Jeffrey Allen Nixon played an equal role in the brutal hammer beating death of Wesley Collins in April of 2010.

Most of the first day of Nixon’s trial at the Flathead County Justice Center was spent selecting a jury, and following opening arguments, Karrolyn Robinson was the main witness, with Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard questioning her about events leading up to and following Collins’ murder.

In opening arguments, Nixon’s attorney Nick Aemisegger told the jury that he intended to demonstrate that his client was an unwilling accomplice to the murder, “the fall guy” in a plot that was hatched by Lake and Robinson, who was pregnant with Lake’s child at the time.

“Jeffrey Nixon did not plan the murder of Wesley Collins and did not participate in the murder of Wesley Collins,” Aemisegger asserted, later saying that “when Robert Lake was done, Wesley Collins was dead and Jeffrey Nixon was shocked.”

Aemisegger said that Lake and Robinson were financially “desperate” because in the weeks prior to the murder they had posted a costly bail to get Lake out of the Flathead County jail after he had been there for four months, and because Robinson had a warrant out for her arrest at the time and because she was nearly nine months pregnant.

“They needed cash, they needed it quickly and they needed Wesley Collins out of the way,” Aemisegger claimed.

But Robinson said that both Nixon, 20, and Lake, 22, “at separate times said they hit him on the head with a hammer. They both said it was equal.”

She said that prior to the April 12 murder, both Nixon and Lake stated that they intended to “confront” Collins regarding $200 that Robinson said was missing, believing that Collins had stolen the money. Robinson lived in the apartment just below Collins’ apartment at the Gateway Village complex on Two Mile Drive.

While Robinson never said that the two men discussed murder, she said that before they went upstairs, she witnessed Lake load a syringe with lidocaine and epinephrine and  she saw Nixon put the syringe in his pocket.

And Robinson said the two men were under the impression that the drug mixture would  cause a reaction in a person that would “mimic a heart attack.”

When Lake and Nixon came back to her apartment after being gone for about a half hour, Robinson said, they had blood on their pants. And soon after while all three were in a vehicle, she said Nixon said “the dude’s dead” and that’s when she learned that Collins had been murdered.

The three went to Walmart, where Nixon purchased two bottles of peroxide because he believed it would make “blood indistinguishible.” She said they then went to Applebee’s for a meal, still spending money they had stolen from Collins.

The subsequent investigation by Kalispell Police was launched after Collins’ two sisters inquired with the apartment complex manager, Judy Dawson, about his whereabouts. The police searched the apartment and found no sign of Collins.

But a couple days later, a tenant at the complex reported a burglary at Collins’ apartment, and police returned. During that search, three medical marijuana plants that had been in the closet on the first search were gone.

That prompted an investigation that led to the arrest of several people, including Robinson. Collins’ body was discovered April 17 in a remote wooded area in the Patrick Creek drainage west of Kalispell. Prosecutors contend that he had been struck in the head by a hammer several times, strangled with a cord and that lidocaine was later detected in his body.

Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard questioned Robinson about why during several initial interviews with police, she did not divulge anything she knew about the murder.

Robinson said several times that she was trying to protect Lake, “because he was the father of my child.”

But she did tell investigators part of what she knew on June 21, after her child had been taken away by the state.

Howard asked her why she should be believed now.

“I have no reason to hide anything anymore,” she said.

Robinson was asked why she would now be willing to testify against Nixon, a person she once regarded as a best friend.

“They’re the only reason I am where I am,” she said through tears, referring to Nixon and Lake. “Because of this, I lost my own child.”

She added that she wanted to express apologies to Collins’ family and to help them find justice for their loss.

Aemisegger told jurors during opening arguments that they would hear different versions of what transpired, making it clear that the validity of witness testimony would be challenged.

Nixon is charged with deliberate homicide, robbery, tampering with evidence and burglary.

Lake, 22, pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and tampering with physical evidence in February after reaching a plea deal with the county attorney’s office. He was sentenced to 110 years in Montana State Prison, but he later attempted to withdraw his plea, claiming that he thought the sentence would be 110 months. Stadler rejected the claim.

Lake was recently transported to the Flathead County Jail from the prison at Deer Lodge and is expected to testify in Nixon’s trial this week.

 Last December, Robinson was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with seven years suspended. She was transported from the Montana Women’s Prison in Billings to testify in the Nixon trial this week.