“I think that the length of time the jury deliberated shows that there was some uncertainty about Mr. Nicholas’ involvement,” said Gandin, who declined to criticize any of the court’s rulings. “I think that the gang references injected into the trial colored an objective view of the facts.”
Family’s anger
For Nicholas’ family, the reaction to the verdict was more visceral. Outside the courtroom before the jury returned, Nicholas’ mother, Marcia Nicholas of Albany, described her son as a good kid who in high school participated in a program to help younger students learn to read, went skiing, and had been excited to meet former President Bill Clinton when he came to Kingston in 2003. She described his scrapes with the law as minor — street fights, disorderly conduct charges — the kind of things that are nearly unavoidable for young men in a poor community like Midtown Kingston which offers few opportunities for youth once they leave high school. (Nicholas is the only one of the five men charged in the murder conspiracy who has never served time in state prison).
“He’s a good boy,” said Nicholas. “He wasn’t the type to get in trouble, he was never in prison and he never sold any drugs.”
Moments after the verdict was read, Marcia Nicholas, along with Jermaine Nicholas’ grandmother and fiancée, began crying, then decrying in anguished tones the decision, the makeup of the jury (none of whom were black or apparently close to Nicholas in age) and the nature of justice in Ulster County. The tirade, which subsided after Williams’ threatened to punish further outbursts with contempt of court citations, resumed in the lobby and outside where family members made the racial connotations of the case explicit noting that Miller, who is white, got a deal which will spare her prison while three black men previously convicted in the case received lengthy sentences.
Nicholas, meanwhile, remained composed in a gray pin-stripe suit and crisp blue shirt as he was cuffed and led from the courtroom. At one point he turned to his sobbing mother and said in a soft tone, “It’s OK, Ma, look at me, I’m good, I’m good. Thank you guys for your time and patience.”
I think that it is wrong when the person that created the incident Det. Eric Van Allen hasn’t been charged for leaking the information that Charles CJ King was testifying in another shooting. Because of that leak CJ was shot and then they let two of the main player in the plot testify against others and they are being let go free. White Supremacy at it’s finest.
[Editor’s note: The allegations in the above comment have been denied both by Van Allen and District Attorney Holley Carnright.]
Of course they would deny what I said but how did the information get out about Charles King tesifying? To be truthful about the real deal is a crime to leak information about Grand Jury witinesses.