After day and a half of jury selection, Stephen Nodine's murder trial sees first testimony

Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 6:00 AM

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Minutes before she died from a gunshot to the head, Angel Downs sent a text message saying that then-Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine was at her home, the victim’s sister testified Tuesday.

Susan Bloodworth, the first witness at Nodine’s murder trial in Baldwin County Circuit Court, told jurors that her sister had just called her to ask where she should shoot someone who was trying to break into her home — the head, chest or leg.

Bloodworth testified that she told her sister that the chest was the best target and demanded to know if it was Nodine, a married man with whom Downs had a years-long and sometimes stormy affair.

Bloodworth said Downs would not answer but sent her a text message a short time later: "Stephen Nodine is here." Twenty to 30 minutes later, Bloodworth said, she got a call from her sister’s landlord informing her that Downs had been shot to death.

In addition to murder, Nodine, 47, stands accused of stalking the 45-year-old real estate agent and making personal use of his Mobile County government-issued pickup truck.

Prosecutor lays out Downs timeline

BAY MINETTE, Ala. -- Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb laid out a dramatic timeline leading up to Angel Downs’ death.

Defendant Stephen Nodine, called Downs’ cell phone four times on May 9 after he had spent the day with her and others at the beach in Pensacola.According to Newcomb, the sequence went as follows:

• Downs sent a text message to a friend at 7:35 p.m.

• At 7:38, she called her sister, Susan Bloodworth, who did not answer. Nodine called her that same minute. The call lasted 21 seconds.

• At 7:39, Downs got a text message from a friend inviting her to come over to a cookout that evening.

• At 7:41, Downs returned the text, asking what she could bring.

• At 7:42, Nodine called for the second time. It lasted 4 seconds. That same minute, she called her sister again, this time on her cell phone. She got no answer, so called Bloodworth’s home again.

This time, Bloodworth answered, and Downs asked her sister if someone was breaking into her home, where should she shoot him?Newcomb said the call lasted a minute and 50 seconds but that Downs would not tell her sister who she was talking about.

• At 7:43 and 7:44, Nodine called a third and fourth time.

• At 7:44, Downs’ friend sent her a text message to tell her she was cooking burgers.

At 7:46, Downs sent a text message to her sister: “Stephen Nodine is here.”Seven minutes later, Newcomb told jurors, a neighbor called 911.“Angel Downs is dead,” she said.

Just as important, Newcomb said, is what several witnesses said: They heard a gunshot and then saw Nodine’s red, county-issued pickup truck leaving the subdivision at a high rate of speed.

One of those neighbors immediately felt he should check on Downs, Newcomb said.

One witness saw Nodine’s truck in the street outside her condo, turning around. He could not see Downs because his view was blocked by the truck and foliage, Newcomb said.

Defense attorney Dennis Knizley told jurors during his opening statement that his client went to Downs’ home on the evening of May 9 — after spending the day with her and others at Pensacola Beach — after discovering that he had left his wallet there.

"She was alive when he left. ... There is no evidence, no physical evidence, that places him there at or about the time of Ms. Downs’ death," he said.

Knizley told jurors that he will offer an expert witness who will testify that there are three main reasons why people commit suicide — financial problems, troubles with interpersonal relationships and health issues.

Downs, Knizley said, had all three. She was sinking financially because of the collapsing real estate market, had suffered from a life-threatening heart condition and had a tumultuous relationship with a married man. Plus, he said, she nearly died from a drug overdose in 2006.

Bloodworth told jurors that her sister was in a good mood when they talked that morning. Bloodworth said they discussed Bloodworth’s plan to visit Downs in Gulf Shores that summer and a possible job opening for Downs in Georgia, where their family lives.

Bloodworth disputed the possibility of suicide. She testified that her sister gave no indication she might be depressed or thinking about suicide. Bloodworth testified that her sister long ago had come to terms with her heart condition and did not find it to be a stress in her life.

Bloodworth also said she examined her sister’s estate after her death and did not find any unusual bills or other signs of impending financial doom.

With a large photo of Downs projected on a wall and displayed on a pair of monitors hanging from the ceiling in Circuit Judge Charles Partin’s courtroom, Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb told jurors that she will present evidence showing that the victim recently started dating another man.

She said Downs was also moving beyond her life with Nodine, whom the victim referred to as "Crazy" or "Crazy Man" during conversations and written communications, Bloodworth testified.

When Baldwin County sheriff’s investigators questioned Nodine on the night of the shooting, he gave conflicting accounts of his actions, Newcomb said. She told jurors that Nodine told investigators that he stayed at Downs’ home only five minutes after returning for his wallet.

He alternately told them the reason he left so quickly was that he had to get back to work on Mobile County’s response to the BP PLC oil spill; that he wanted to watch the Yankees-Red Sox game; and that he had been gone all day and needed to get home.

Nodine also told investigators that he stopped at TimberCreek golf course because he wanted to hit some balls, only to realize that it was closed. Newcomb suggested that the real reason he stopped was because he wanted to use the facility’s showers and change his clothes.

Knizley told jurors that his client wanted to get some practice in preparation for a golf tournament he was participating in the next day. He said Nodine changed his clothes at a Ruby Tuesday and stopped for something to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Daphne because the Ruby Tuesday was too crowded.

There was nothing sinister about those actions, Knizley said, adding that Nodine was sweaty and grimy from a day slathered in suntan lotion. Nodine did not dump the clothes but put left them in his truck, Knizley said. And investigators did not find a shred of incriminating evidence on those clothes, Knizley said.

(Staff Reporter Kim Lanier contributed to this report.)

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here