UCCS double homicide suspect decides not to pursue insanity plea 

The defense team for alleged UCCS killer Nicholas Jordan announced that they would not be changing their plea to not guilty by reason of insanity at the hearing on Jan. 31. 

Jordan is accused of shooting and killing his roommate and UCCS student Sam Knopp and Pueblo resident Celie Rain Montgomery in the early morning hours of Feb. 16 in Jordan and Knopp’s dorm room at the Crestone building on campus. 

The defense originally entered a plea of not guilty at the hearing on Nov. 22, but Judge David Shakes gave the defense until the hearing on Jan. 31 to decide if they wanted to change the plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense was waiting on reports from experts on Jordan’s mental health to make a decision. 

Defense Attorney Nick Rogers said that the defense would not be “utilizing expert mental health testimony” during the case. 

Shakes set dates during the hearing to address a number of motions that are in the process of being filed or have yet to be filed by both the defense and the prosecution. Attorney Tony Gioia from the prosecution asked if there was any cause for late filing, as the deadline to file motions was supposed to be the day of the hearing. Shakes gave the defense until Feb. 7 to file any remaining motions. 

Gioia is new to the prosecution for this case. He replaced previous prosecutor Andrew Steven Vaughan, who was placed on administrative leave at the beginning of the year after a criminal mischief charge was filed against him, according to the Gazette. 

Rogers mentioned a number of motions the defense is either in the process of filing or planning to file before the deadline Shakes set for Feb. 7. Two of the motions could result in the case being dismissed if approved: 

  • Outrageous government conduct: If approved, the indictment would be dismissed on the grounds that the conduct of law enforcement agents was “so outrageous that due process principles would absolutely bar the government from invoking judicial process to obtain a conviction,” according to United States v. Russell.  
  • Destruction of evidence: If approved, the case could be dismissed, the jury could receive adverse instruction, or specific claims or defenses could be struck on the grounds that the opposing party destroyed or altered evidence. 

Motions filed for the case will be addressed across a series of motion hearings set for Feb. 5, Feb. 20, March 6 and March 13. The defendant will appear in court on March 28 for his pre-trial readiness conference. 

The trial is set to begin on April 7 and is scheduled for two weeks. Jordan remains in jail on a $5 million bond. 

Timeline of Jordan’s case before today’s hearing  

The case has seen numerous delays since starting eleven months ago. Here is a timeline of events:   

  • March 18: Jordan and his defense claims he isn’t competent enough to stand trial, and Shakes ordered a mental evaluation to determine his competency. His preliminary hearing, which occurs before an arraignment, was scheduled for March 27 but was delayed indefinitely.   
  • March 26: Jordan faces new charges after an alleged assault involving a deputy while he was being held in the El Paso County jail. According to previous reporting from The Scribe, deputy Taylor Smith testified in court that Jordan had assaulted another deputy after they denied him cleaning supplies for the toilet in his cell.    
  • April 12: After an evaluation from Sarah Velsor, a forensic psychologist at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, found Jordan to be incompetent, a second competency evaluation was requested by Vaughan, according to reporting from The Gazette.   
  • July 12: Forensic psychiatrist Patricia Westmoreland testified in court that she found that Jordan was competent enough to procced, which conflicted with the first evaluation done by the psychologist. The evaluation, which was performed on April 30, found that he had mental health issues, but it did not make him unable to help his defense team.   
  • Aug. 2: Shakes ruled that Jordan was competent to stand trial after hearing testimony from both Velsor and Westmoreland. During the hearing, the defense used Velsor’s statements to argue that his “waxing and waning” symptoms have made it difficult to communicate with him, but the conflicting evaluations were enough for Shakes to deem Jordan competent.    
  • Sept. 3: Extensive evidence is revealed by investigators at the preliminary hearing that was initially scheduled for March 27. Detective Ed Crofoot testified that the cartridges found in Knopp’s dorm room matched a handgun that was found inside Jordan’s vehicle when he was arrested, and fingerprint found on the handgun’s magazine was a match for Jordan, according to previous reporting from The Scribe. He testified that Jordan was the only person who scanned into Crestone’s eastern entrance from midnight to 9 a.m. on Feb. 16, doing so twice less than 20 minutes prior to the police responding to the shots fired.  
  • Oct. 25: Jordan was supposed to enter a plea but was given extra time at the request of Rogers and Patrick, who said Jordan was “severely mentally ill” and that it was impacting the defense’s ability to represent him, according to past Scribe reporting. 
  • Nov. 22: Shakes denied the defense’s request for another arraignment and the defense entered a plea of not guilty. Shakes gave the defense until Jan. 31 to decide if the not guilty plea was by reason of insanity as the defense finished their investigation into Jordan’s competency, according to previous reporting from the Scribe. 

Nicholas Jordan enters the courtroom for a preliminary hearing on Sep. 6. Photo by Lillian Davis.