BUTTE COUNTY, CA - A woman pleaded no contest to shooting her husband dead in his sleep in 2020 and has been sentenced to 35 years to life.
Back on August 7, Jessica Rose Nichols, 27, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and admitted to using a firearm to commit a crime, according to a press release from the Butte County District Attorney's Office. On Wednesday, September 9, Nichols was sentenced to 25 years to life plus 10 years for killing her husband, 22-year-old Mateo Lange, while he slept in the early morning hours of November 6, 2020.
According to the district attorney, Nichols initially claimed that Lange had "charged at her" while they had an argument. However, audio captured from the night of the murder told a very different story, Law & Crime reported.
In 2020, police responded to the apartment that Nichols and Lange shared after a neighbor called 911. The neighbor reported hearing two gunshots and went to see what was happening outside. Nichols was leaving her apartment with a stroller carrying the couple's 22-month-old child.
She approached her neighbor, handed over the stroller with the child and a note with the contact information for the child's paternal grandmother. She then went back into the apartment. After hearing a third gunshot, the neighbor called 911. Lange was shot twice in the head and once in the chest at close range.
When police arrived, they found Nichols on the front porch. She reportedly told police that she had shot Lange in self-defense, claiming she was the victim of violent threats. When crime scene experts arrived to inspect the scene and assist police, they quickly determined that Lange had been shot while he was laying on the floor, contradicting Nichols' claim that he "charged at her."
As the investigation continued, detectives learned that Nichols was the more violent half of the couple, as evidenced in her own "text messages and selfie videos." The district attorney said that Nichols discussed how she threw items at Lange, destroyed his property, and "previously [tried] to kill him by poisoning his pillow with household cleaner."
An argument was heard the evening before the shooting, during which Lange told Nichols that he was going to "leave Nichols the next day and end their marriage."
The case against Nichols was delayed for five years by a variety of defense-related factors. Specifically, Nichols changed attorneys multiple times. More recently, the case was continued multiple times while her current defense attorney attempted to retain a "Battered Woman Syndrome" expert.
"Based upon what we know now, the defense finally found an expert to evaluate Nichols, but given this first-degree plea and the fact that we never saw that expert's report, leads us to the belief that the highly-experienced defense counsel felt there was little to support a Battered Woman Syndrome defense," the district attorney said.
Back on August 7, Jessica Rose Nichols, 27, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and admitted to using a firearm to commit a crime, according to a press release from the Butte County District Attorney's Office. On Wednesday, September 9, Nichols was sentenced to 25 years to life plus 10 years for killing her husband, 22-year-old Mateo Lange, while he slept in the early morning hours of November 6, 2020.
According to the district attorney, Nichols initially claimed that Lange had "charged at her" while they had an argument. However, audio captured from the night of the murder told a very different story, Law & Crime reported.
In 2020, police responded to the apartment that Nichols and Lange shared after a neighbor called 911. The neighbor reported hearing two gunshots and went to see what was happening outside. Nichols was leaving her apartment with a stroller carrying the couple's 22-month-old child.
She approached her neighbor, handed over the stroller with the child and a note with the contact information for the child's paternal grandmother. She then went back into the apartment. After hearing a third gunshot, the neighbor called 911. Lange was shot twice in the head and once in the chest at close range.
When police arrived, they found Nichols on the front porch. She reportedly told police that she had shot Lange in self-defense, claiming she was the victim of violent threats. When crime scene experts arrived to inspect the scene and assist police, they quickly determined that Lange had been shot while he was laying on the floor, contradicting Nichols' claim that he "charged at her."
As the investigation continued, detectives learned that Nichols was the more violent half of the couple, as evidenced in her own "text messages and selfie videos." The district attorney said that Nichols discussed how she threw items at Lange, destroyed his property, and "previously [tried] to kill him by poisoning his pillow with household cleaner."
An argument was heard the evening before the shooting, during which Lange told Nichols that he was going to "leave Nichols the next day and end their marriage."
The case against Nichols was delayed for five years by a variety of defense-related factors. Specifically, Nichols changed attorneys multiple times. More recently, the case was continued multiple times while her current defense attorney attempted to retain a "Battered Woman Syndrome" expert.
"Based upon what we know now, the defense finally found an expert to evaluate Nichols, but given this first-degree plea and the fact that we never saw that expert's report, leads us to the belief that the highly-experienced defense counsel felt there was little to support a Battered Woman Syndrome defense," the district attorney said.
For corrections or revisions, click here.
The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments