NICKLASSON, ALLEN

DOB: July 25, 1972
Race: White
Gender: Male

CRIME AND TRIAL

County of conviction: Lafayette
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: April 11, 1994
Date of sentencing: June 28, 1996

TRIAL COUNSEL:  Patrick Berrigan

LEGAL STATUS:

Current proceedings: 

• Appeal pending in the Eighth Circuit following denial of habeas by U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Case No. 05-3318.

Last judicial decision: 

• Eighth Circuit granted in part Application for Certificate of Appealability, December 22, 2005, Case No. 05-3318.
   
• Denial of Certificate of Appealability (September 6, 2005) following denial of federal habeas petition by U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Case No. 4:03-CV-08001-GAF (before Fenner, J.) (April 26, 2005).

CURRENT COUNSEL:

Jennifer Herndon
S. Paige Canfield
33 Flower Valley, #188
St. Louis, MO  63033
314-831-5531

REPORTED OPINIONS:

• Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by Nicklasson v. State, 105 S.W.3d 482 (Mo. banc 2003).
   
• Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Nicklasson, 967 S.W.2d 596 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1021 (Nov. 30, 1998).

SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES:

• defendant's attempt to avoid death sentence by pleading guilty
   
• whether interrogating officer impermissibly promised leniency to elicit confession
   
• whether trial judge diminished jurors' responsibility for sentencing decision by explaining that sentence would be reviewed and considered by other courts
   
• trial court's exclusion, as cumulative, of art therapist's testimony that drawings made by defendant showed defendant's enormous emotional problems.
   
• trial court's exclusion of other proffered mitigating evidence, including testimony that family members would visit defendant in the event of a life sentence, presentation of defendant's hand to demonstrate long history of self-mutilation, testimony regarding mother's sterilization and mental instability, photograph of defendant holding a beer as a five-year-old while standing next to father, evidence that defendant was admitted to hospital for beatings suffered at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, exhibit stating that defendant suffered from "organic brain symptoms," and willingness of defendant to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence
   
• exclusion of state's closing argument from co-perpetrator's trial to the effect that co-perpetrator was the "brains" behind the crime

Return to casetracker list