posted November 13, 2007
The trial of a former Chattanooga fireman charged with killing a 15-year-old boy has been delayed until Feb. 26.
District Attorney Bill Cox said the state has turned over all its evidence to the defense team for Marvin Nicholson Jr., but a couple of pieces of evidence are still not back.
That includes testing on a hair sample as well as review by an FBI expert of cell phone records.
Nicholson is charged in the Oct. 3, 2006, slaying of 15-year-old James Citizen.
The cellphone records are important to establish whether Nicholson made a call that used a cell tower near the murder scene.
DA Cox said an ATT representative has already rendered an opinion in the case, and the state wanted a second look from the FBI expert.
Judge Barry Steelman left Nicholson's bond at $450,000. He said if the case is passed again in February, he may lower it at that time.
Defense attorney Johnny Houston said Nicholson "is a fireman who was working three jobs. He has close family here."
But DA Cox said the state is concerned about the safety of an eyewitness in the case, the sister of the victim.
Attorney Houston said the sister at first identified a policeman as the one who forced her brother into a car at gunpoint on Fairleigh Street near Dodson Avenue. He said the sister only later picked Nicholson out of a lineup.
At an earlier hearing, the victim's sister, Ursula Citizen, said she had no doubt that Nicholson was the man who took her brother at gunpoint.
Police said Nicholson, who is charged with first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping, rented a car from the Hertz office at the Chattanooga Airport the day of the murder.
A man who was stopping by his house to check on a roof in the Highway 58 area also said the ex-fireman is the man he saw running from where the youth's body was found.
The kidnapping occurred in the city, and the body was found in the county lying beside a fence gate several feet off Sims-Harris Road. The victim died from multiple gunshots.
Police said Nicholson the day before had reported a burglary at his home.
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