Update: Murder suspect agrees to second assessment
By Dan Nienaber, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Anderson, an agent with the
"Jonas demonstrated how he fired the two shots in the situation we were investigating," Anderson said during a hearing Tuesday for Nelson's first-degree murder case in
That was the fourth and last series of interviews Nelson's attorney,
The interviews took place during the early morning hours of
Portions of the interviews highlighted by Lea during the hearing suggest Nelson was too cooperative with police because of his father's strict rules and his inability to resist the persuasion of authority figures. A motion filed by Lea also said Nelson is suffering from post traumatic stress and was not able to form the intent required for first-degree murder.
While questioning witnesses, Lea pointed out that Nelson was home schooled and didn't pass the test showing he'd fulfilled the state requirements for a high school education. He also highlighted comments Nelson made to the investigators about his troubled relationship with his father.
Lea declined to comment after the hearing.
Gruesome scene
The first law enforcement officer to record a conversation with Nelson was
While testifying Tuesday, Lau said he initially thought he was responding to a suicide because the situation had been reported to him as a "D.O.A" or dead on arrival. That changed after he spoke briefly with
"It was obvious Richard was deceased, so I called and told them to cancel the ambulance," Lau said. "Obviously he was shot from behind and not the front."
A bullet hole also was found in the lower corner of a patio door.
After the house was searched to make sure no one was inside, Lau walked out to the pickup to start the first series of recorded conversations with Nelson. Lau asked what had happened and Nelson told him he had been watching movies in his upstairs bedroom when he heard a "pop" sound. Nelson said he called 911 after he found his father had been shot.
The second deputy to arrive,
Nelson talked about how his father had been acting weird and holding grudges against people, O'Brien said. He also talked about about how judgmental his father was and a conversation he had that night with a former girlfriend he had met at a camp in northern
Assistant Attorney General
"He just brought it up out of the blue and said he found his father's will," O'Brien said.
Rights read
Nelson wasn't formally interviewed and read his Miranda rights until he agreed to talk to Anderson and sheriff's Det.
Both detectives said Nelson seemed calm and collected as they encouraged him to tell the truth about what happened. That's when Nelson allegedly told them he walked down stairs, placed a glass in the kitchen, grabbed a gun and ammunition from the gun cabinet and shot his sleeping father in the head.
Nelson told the detectives he fired a second shot through the patio door to make it look like the shot had been fired from outside, Anderson and Collins said. Two spent casings were found where Nelson allegedly said he'd placed them after the shooting.
Klumpp told District Court Judge
Nelson agreed to the interview, saying he understood it could both help and hurt his situation depending on the outcome of the second doctor's findings. That portion of the hearing will take place at a later date, after the second interview is completed.
Conkel's decision on whether the law enforcement interviews are admissible will be made after the doctors are questioned in court and the attorneys have made their arguments.
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