Jurors Thursday found a 34-year-old man who bludgeoned and repeatedly stabbed his parents and a longtime housekeeper inside their home in a gated community of Newport Beach was legally sane at the time of the killings.
Camden Burton Nicholson was convicted Oct. 22 of three counts of special-circumstances murder with a sentencing enhancement of multiple murders. But because he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, the trial entered a second phase, with jurors determining whether he was legally insane at the time of the 2019 slayings.
Jurors on Thursday found he was legally sane, so Nicholson faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 19. If the jury had found he was legally insane at the time he would have faced an indefinite stay at a mental health facility.
The burden of proof was on the defense. Jurors had to decide the question by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than reasonable doubt in the guilt phase.
Jurors concluded Nicholson killed his parents — 64-year-old Richard Nicholson and 61-year-old Kim Nicholson — on Feb. 11, 2019, then murdered 57-year-old housekeeper Maria Morse of Anaheim the following day.
Nicholson’s attorney, Richard Cheung of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, said the law required the defendant be found with a mental disease or defect and that he did not understand the crime was legally or morally wrong.
Cheung said three psychiatric experts concluded that Nicholson wrongly believed his parents and his maid were in on a conspiracy to kill him and he acted in self-defense.
“Three experts all agree he was insane at the time,” Cheung said.
One expert was hired by Cheung’s office, and the other two were appointed by a judge. One expert, however, testified for prosecutors that the defendant was malingering, or exaggerating his psychiatric issues and was not legally insane at the time.
“Yes, Camden understood three people were killed,” Cheung said. “But he was delusional, psychotic. … He had this delusion his parents and housekeeper were in a conspiracy to kill him.”
Nicholson thought that when his parents attempted to hospitalize him to help him, they were setting it up to have him poisoned, Cheung said.
Part of the reason Nicholson was suspicious of Morse was because she used a room deodorizer, which triggered his seizures, Cheung said.
Nicholson was also paranoid his parents were tracking him, so when he would leave home and check into a motel, he would continuously switch rooms, Cheung said.
His parents would implore him to come home, telling him they love him, but then they would try to persuade him to check into a hospital and he would fear the false conspiracy all over again, Cheung said.
Forensic psychologist Lisa Grajewski testified that when Nicholson was in college “he was struggling” with suicidal ideation, so he was hospitalized and prescribed medication. Nicholson had “periods of compliance and non-compliance” with taking his medications, she said.
Nicholson was also using steroids for low testosterone and cannabis “to self medicate” in addition to anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers and tranquilizers, Grajewski said.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dave Porter noted that Nicholson appeared to take steps to destroy evidence such as a blood-stained jacket and moved the housekeeper’s car about a mile away from the home.
Richard Nicholson was seen in security footage driving back to his home in the gated community at 36 Palazzo about 12:45 p.m. the day of his death, Porter said in his opening statement of the trial.
Nicholson, who was “completely dependent on his parents,” met his father in the garage of the home and “stabbed him over and over again,” Porter said.
Nicholson placed his father’s body in a small bathroom and used towels to block the bottom of the door to keep blood from seeping out, Porter said.
About 10 minutes later, his mother came home and Nicholson struck her with a metal statue before repeatedly stabbing her, Porter said.
“There was so much blood, the defendant tried to soak it up” with a bag of flour, Porter said.
Investigators found clumps of his mother’s hair at the scene, showing she fought for her life, Porter said.
Nicholson later began using his parents’ cars to drive to various stores and businesses, he added.
The next day, Morse, who was a “longtime housekeeper” for the family, arrived for work about 7:45 a.m. Nicholson repeatedly stabbed her and slit her throat before stuffing her into a large plastic bin with her arms and legs sticking out, Porter said.
Nicholson then went on a series of “shopping sprees,” spending $300 on marijuana at a dispensary and making stops at a drugstore and an adult novelty shop, Porter said.
Around 8:30 p.m., after returning home, Nicholson left again in his father’s car and drove to a Kaiser Permanente facility in Irvine, where he called 911 and said he had killed his parents in self-defense because they were trying to kill him, Porter said.
Nicholson, who was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, was raised in Newport Beach in a Mormon family, and his mental health struggles began in 2012, when he suffered his first episode while on a mission in Florida, Cheung said. He was prescribed medication and sent home early from the mission, according to Cheung.