September 12, 2007
Another of Scotty Joe’s Killers to Plead Guilty
Woman to plead in slaying of teen
BAY MINETTE [Alabama] — None of Scotty Joe Weaver’s killers will receive the death penalty.
The last of the defendants, Nichole Bryars Kelsay, is expected to plead guilty today in the brutal 2004 slaying of the Bay Minette teen. While details of her agreement with prosecutors were not disclosed, Kelsay is expected to plead to a charge that does not carry the death penalty, said Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb.
Weaver, 18, had been friends with Kelsay since first grade. He invited her and her infant son into his home and — even though he was gay, according to prosecutors — Weaver asked Kelsay to marry him.
But the proposal threatened Kelsay’s relationship with Christopher Ryan Gaines, and the couple plotted Weaver’s death, prosecutors allege. They asked Robert Holly Lofton Porter, who told authorities he didn’t like Weaver’s lifestyle, to join them.
. . .
Gaines, now 23, pleaded guilty in May to capital murder and received life without parole, spurring negotiations with Kelsay, now 21, and Porter, also 21. Gaines told investigators that he killed Weaver because Kelsay suggested the idea. He later told the Press-Register that Kelsay watched as he and Porter killed Weaver.
See also:
Porter Plea would spare him the death penalty in brutal killing
Filed under: Hate Crimes, United States
