State chooses murder in Nodine case

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) - The state has made its decision. It wants to proceed with the murder indictment against Steve Nodine. Prosecutor David Whetstone, who was assigned to the case after the Alabama Attorney General's office took it over said he and the attorney general's office made the decision.

"I think every grand jury that's heard this case believes that Mr. Nodine should stand trial for the death of Angel Downs," Whetstone said.

Nodine went on trial for murder, stalking and an ethics violation in December of 2010 but was only convicted of the ethics violation. Early in 2011, Baldwin County's new district attorney, Hallie Dixon, called a special grand jury and indicted Nodine for criminally negligent homicide, along with perjury.

Whetstone and the attorney general's office had to choose how to proceed and felt the murder indictment was a better fit. Whetstone asked that the negligent homicide charge be dropped.

"What I'm suggesting is that there is - if a person is engaged in a certain felony and someone dies and there is not sufficient proof to show who pulled the trigger, then a person can be held responsible," Whetstone said.

Nodine's defense attorney, John Beck, said that is a flexible theory and is surprised the state didn't go with the most recent indictment.

"Well, apparently he wants to get before a jury is we don't know who killed, who shot that gun. Whether it was suicide or Mr. Nodine himself, we don't know and we don't care. We're just going to throw it up and let the jury decide. That's not how things are done," said Beck.

Beck said the defense still has three motions to dismiss the case. Judge Charles Partin will rule on them later in November. If Partin decides the state can't go to trial with the murder indictment, the criminally negligent homicide charge will have already been dismissed, which means Steve Nodine will not have a second trial.

Whetstone said he has not made it through all of the evidence yet. If the judge allows the state to go through with the murder indictment, Nodine will also face charges of perjury and stalking. Whetstone said if there is a trial, he plans on calling on experts who testified in Nodine's first trial as well as using some new expert testimony.

Angel Downs was found dead in her Gulf Shores driveway on Mother's Day in 2010, from a single gunshot wound to the head. Police say Steve Nodine and Downs had spent the day on Pensacola Beach. Downs had plans to meet up with friends for dinner that night but never made it. Downs and Nodine had been having an extramarital affair for a number of years.

Read the state's motion to elect to prosecute here .