Defendant takes the stand

Jeffrey Allen Nixon testified in his own defense Thursday, telling jurors during several hours on the witness stand that it was Robert Lake who brutally murdered 49-year-old Wesley “Bubba” Collins on April 12, 2010, not him.

It was the third series of events explaining the murder that was presented to the jury. Testimony ended on the fourth day of the trial Thursday afternoon.

Lake, already convicted of the murder and serving a 110-year-sentence, testified Tuesday that he killed Collins — who lived in the apartment directly above Lake and his girlfriend Karrolyn Robinson — in self-defense after Collins swung a knife at him.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office says it was both Nixon and Lake who attacked Collins with hammers, strangled him and injected him with Lidocaine as part of a plan to steal his medical marijuana.

Nixon’s version of events mixed elements of both, but he accepted no guilt.

Nixon, 19, said he arrived at Lake’s apartment on the afternoon of April 12, 2010, and at some point asked Lake if he had any marijuana. Lake responded that he had seen a caretaker come to Collins’ apartment earlier in the day.

The two walked up the stairs and knocked on Collins’ door.

“He told us that he would smoke us out, that he’d be happy to. Just to come back in 10 minutes. He just made dinner and he wanted to eat first,” Nixon said.

Nixon said he then went to Lake and Robinson’s apartment and injected himself with morphine, adding that he had recently relapsed and considers himself to be addicted to opiates.

Several minutes later, Nixon testified that Lake indicated it was time to return to Collins’ apartment.

Nixon used a laser pointer to show jurors where the three sat around a table. He said Collins loaded a glass smoking device, lit the marijuana and inhaled before passing it to Lake, who in turn gave it to Nixon.

The process repeated itself until Collins began to put more marijuana in the device, Nixon said.

“As he was clearing the bong and setting the bong on the table, Robert struck him in the head with a hammer,” Nixon said.

“I saw Robert Lake swing a hammer at his head in a back-handed motion.”

The force of the collision knocked the hammer out of Lake’s hand, Nixon said, and Lake lunged toward it.

“He struck Wesley again on the top of his head, knocking him unconscious,” Nixon said.

Now, Collins was slumped in the chair. Nixon said he had no idea why Lake attacked Collins. No one was angry at the time and there had been no argument, he said.

“Just out of the blue, Robert hit him for no apparent reason,” he said.

The attack wasn’t over, according to Nixon.

He said Lake ordered him to be quiet and close the blinds. Then Nixon said he was told to go to Collins’ bedroom to check on his marijuana plants.

Nixon’s attorney, Nick Aemisegger, asked Nixon why he didn’t run out of the house. He said he didn’t know.

“I couldn’t believe it was real, that it was actually happening,” Nixon said.

When he returned to the kitchen, Nixon said he saw Lake looking through a pantry. Lake said he was looking for Collins’ marijuana “stash,” Nixon testified.

“He pulled out a hammer and smiled and said he ‘should have used that bigger hammer, it would have been faster,’” Nixon said.

That’s when Nixon claims he and Lake heard Collins, now conscious, say something to the effect of, “Is that all you got?”

Then, Nixon said, Lake pulled Collins from the chair, put him on the ground and struck him twice in the back of his head.

“The last time he hit him with the mallet there was a crunch,” he said. “And Robert said he was dead. It was done.”

Nixon said he was “scared out of his mind” at the time, that he didn’t think Lake was capable of murder.

Then Collins took another deep breath.

Nixon said Lake then pulled a string out of his pocket and began strangling Collins. Minutes later, Collins took another deep breath, Nixon said.

“Wesley Collins takes another deep breath and at that time, Robert was very angry,” Nixon said. “He proceeded to tie a knot in the string, wrap it around his neck and pulled it tight.”

With Collins now dead, Nixon said he went to a nearby convenience store to get cigarettes. Lake let him leave, Nixon said, but warned him he “better be back.”

He returned to Lake’s apartment and found Lake and Robinson waiting in the living room. They were both calm, he said, and neither seemed to be acting irregularly.

The three went to Walmart, Nixon said, because Robinson wanted Lake to buy new pants. Lake’s pants were covered in blood, Nixon said.

Nixon bought hydrogen peroxide, he said, and either Lake or Robinson bought a pair of pants. Then all three of them went out for a steak dinner.

Nixon said he was too scared to leave Lake following the murder.

“I was, I guess, playing into Robert,” he said. “[I] couldn’t feel like I was rocking the boat without risking my own life.”

Nixon said he never touched Collins’ body as the three returned to their apartment and discussed disposal of the body. Cody Naldrett — who lived in the same complex, was convicted in connection to the murder and testified Wednesday — later helped Lake get the body out of Collins’ bedroom window, Nixon said.

The three dumped the body off of Patrick Creek Road west of Kalispell, Nixon testified.

A truck had been provided by Nixon’s friend, Nathaniel Shumaker, who testified Tuesday that Nixon admitted to killing Collins.

He said Nixon had told him that he and Lake were in Collins’ apartment stealing marijuana when Collins returned and that he had killed Collins with a hammer during the ensuing argument.

On Thursday, Nixon said he lied to protect Shumaker from Lake. Nixon claimed that Lake said “we would be dealing with two bodies” if Shumaker went to the police.

“If Nate would have gone to the police with the story I gave him, he would have snitched on me, not Robert,” Nixon said.

Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams then cross-examined Nixon about his story.

She asked why, at any point, he didn’t notify law enforcement. She questioned him on why he would not have told Shumaker later that he had not actually killed Collins.

Adams also asked why Nixon told a Kalispell Police Department Detective that he was “screwed” when he was interviewed a week later.

“I meant that I was screwed, that no one would believe my story anyway and even if they did, somehow Robert would find out and get to me,” he said

Closing arguments begin this morning and the jury will likely begin deliberating.

Nixon faces up to life in prison if convicted on all charges, which include deliberate homicide, robbery and burglary. He could also be found guilty of accountability to deliberate homicide.