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As Nichols trial nears, remember the victims
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Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
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| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
10/10/2007 11:55 AM |
The trial is finally about to begin after almost three years - a long, painful wait for Adrian "Stretch" Cummings.
The disabled Vietnam vet has seen delay after delay in the case of an Ocala businessman charged with killing his wife, Nancy Cummings, and daughter, Holly, in a drunken-driving accident. He consoles himself with the certainty they are still with him and with the memory of them as nurses and supporters of veterans.
William Perry Nichols Jr., a corporate officer with Water Spots Inc., is set to go to trial next week in connection with their deaths. He is charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of vehicular homicide.
At 6 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving 2004, he rolled his pickup truck over their car. The women were traveling on Southeast 180th Avenue Road on their way to work.
Even Nichols' lawyers acknowledge that - when his blood was drawn two and a half hours after the crash - it exceeded the .08 legal limit for driving. The alcohol level was .103 or .104.
According to reports, Nichols had been drinking during the holiday. Now a jury will determine if he is guilty.
Was he impaired? Or did he lose control of the the F-250 for some other reason? Was he legally drunk at the time of the crash? Or is there some other, bizarre medical explanation for his blood alcohol level?
The jury will decide whether he deserves the labels "killer" and "drunken driver."
On Tuesday, the lawyers debated several motions, such as whether former Highway Patrol Trooper John Gilcher was biased against Nichols. Did Gilcher, who lost his job with the Ocala Police Department, have something against him because he was a good friend of Deputy Police Chief Greg Graham?
A defense lawyer said Graham helped arrange for Nichols to turn himself in but Gilcher went out and arrested him anyway.
Circuit Judge Hale Stancil said he will rule on the Gilcher issue today.
The defendant's social importance - his business prominence and his friends - made some of the defense motions hard to stomach. That's because the lawyers sought to hide from the jury the occupation and the faces of the victims.
"They were nurses, an honorable profession. I think it would certainly evoke a response of sympathy," defense attorney William DeCarlis told the judge. "In this particular case, they were on their way to work. And so I move to exclude it from the trial. It's not relevant and material to the issues in the case."
DeCarlis didn't win that one. So far, the judge will allow jurors to see photos of the victims and learn about their jobs.
The defendant wasn't in the courtroom on Tuesday, but Cummings was. For him, it was important the jury hear that Nancy and Holly Cummings were nurses. They had worked hard for it and looked forward to their hospital work.
And he wants them to know what the two were doing on the road so early, he said. "They were not on their way back from [an all-night] party. They were on their way to help somebody, like they were every day."
After all, one key fact here - lest we forget it - is that two unique women were killed, not just names or numbers but nurses and cherished family members.
If, on the one hand, Nichols has friends in high places, Holly and Nancy Cummings should have friends everywhere. They should have a friend in every nurse who understands their commitment and every patient who has known a nurse's care.
"That's what I'd like them to be remembered as," Stretch Cummings said, "people who gave their life to help others and not just the senseless victims of someone's drunk driving."
Joe Byrnes can be reached at joe@ocala.com or 352-867-4112.
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Re: As Nichols trial nears, remember the victims |
By Millie Kelly on
10/10/2007 8:54 PM |
| Thank you for the article of the victims Nancy and Holly Cummings. For those of us who knew Nancy abd Holly there isn't a day that goes by that we don't remember them. Nacy was one of the most loving people I ever knew. Ther was'n anything she wouldn't do for someone. And Holly, always laughing and just a great person. These last 3 years have been like a nightmare that we just can't wake from. We can only hope that justice will be served in their behalf. I always wanted a sister and how happy I was the day that Nancy became my Sister-in-Law. Now all I can do for her now is to stand beside Stretch at the trial. |
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Re: As Nichols trial nears, remember the victims |
By Linda Lowry,LPN on
10/12/2007 8:07 PM |
| As a classmate of Nancy's, I can tell you that she was the kindest, most compassionate person I have ever known. Her daughter, Holly always had a smile and loved her career as a nurse. How dare the defense attorneys not want to show their faces and hide their occupation! Two valuable lives were wasted that day. Two loving caregivers who will never fulfill their lifes ambitions. What would happen if all of their nurse friends would show up in the court room in uniform? Would that offend the defense attorneys? |
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