(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing woman with four prior drug convictions was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the slaying of a woman who had lived with her.
The body of Amber Nicole “Nikki” Sporleder, 33, of Cushing, whose throat was cut, was found on Harmony Road north of Riverbend Road near Yale about 7 a.m. on May 24, 2013, Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Myers testified in a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Laurie Darlene Bacon, 41, gave the “green light” to kill Sporleder, Bacon’s murder co-defendant Justin Allen Kelley, 32, of Cushing, told Special District Judge Katherine Thomas in court Wednesday.
On the witness stand, Kelley admitted that he had received a 25-year prison sentence followed by probation for life — in exchange for his testimony against his murder co-defendants.
Kelley told the judge he drove the victim and his co-defendant Denny Allen Sisney, 36, of Cushing, in Bacon’s truck to the location where he claimed Sisney killed Sporleder — while he stayed inside the vehicle with the radio turned up.
Kelley testified that he and Bacon were acquaintances “through the drug game, selling, giving, getting high — she (Bacon) had the meth, I was selling it.”
Describing issues between Bacon and the victim, Kelley testified that the victim “was stealing (Bacon’s) personal items, not paying her dope money.”
“She was upset — she (Bacon) said she (the victim) needed to be taught a lesson. Denny (Sisney) said he’d take care of it,” Kelley testified.
Bacon “said she (the victim) was the reason she got busted the first time,” Kelley testified.
“It was just go to the river and do it. She (Bacon) said she wasn’t going to drive. I was supposed to drive out there and (Sisney) was supposed to take care of her. We went in Laurie’s vehicle,” Kelley testified.
When someone mentioned going to the river, the victim had said “I want to go,” Kelley testified. “I wasn’t going to kill her — I was just going to drive,” Kelley testified.
At the location where the victim’s body was found, Sisney and the victim had started arguing, Kelley testified.
The victim said “pull over and I’ll get out and walk. They got out. I turned the radio up when they started hollering. Five to 10 minutes later, Sisney came back.
“He said ‘drive, I just killed the bitch,"” Kelley testified.
Kelley claimed he would not have participated if Bacon had not given the “green light,” which he said meant to kill the victim.
“When Denny Sisney got back in the truck, he took the green gloves off and threw them in a ditch,” Kelley testified.
Under cross-examination from Bacon’s lead defense attorney Sarah Kennedy, Kelley admitted there were a lot of lies in his various statements to investigators.
“I drank two pints (of liquor) that night and into the morning,” Kelley testified. “I took a half gram of meth — I smoke it,” Kelley testified.
Kelley indicated that he didn’t have any remorse because he didn’t think that he did anything wrong.
“I didn’t kill someone — he (Sisney) killed someone,” Kelley testified.
When the victim left in Bacon’s truck with Kelley and Sisney, Bacon “was acting like she was passed out,” at her house where they had been partying, Kelley testified.
“I was high enough and drunk enough that it really didn’t register,” whether he had committed a crime by driving the victim and Sisney to the location where the victim was slain, Kelley testified.
In urging the judge to dismiss the charges against Bacon, her lead defense attorney said that Kelley “admittedly lied about this 20 times.”
Prosecutor Kevin Etherington, who said that the death penalty would not be sought against Bacon, told the judge that Bacon “assisted in the planning, allowed Denny Sisney and Justin Kelley her vehicle to carry out the crime.”
In binding Bacon over for trial, the judge said, “It is uncontroverted that Mr. Kelley has given prior inconsistent statements. Mr. Kelley has given testimony previously and today that resulted in his receiving a substantial sentence.”
Bacon, who was in court Wednesday but remains in the custody of the state Department of Corrections, was sentenced four months ago to five years in prison followed by five years of probation for twice possessing a drug near Cushing High School in 2013.
Bacon had previously served about half of two three-year prison terms for possession of methamphetamine in the presence of a child and possessing pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture a drug, both in 2005 in Payne County, DOC records show.
Three months ago, Sisney — for whom the death penalty is being sought — was ordered to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Sisney, who remains jailed without bail, is due to appear in court on Sept. 15 for a pre-trial hearing before Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler.
Bacon remains in the Payne County Jail pending her arraignment in trial court on July 11 before District Judge Phillip Corley.
Bacon, the last of the three murder defendants to be charged, seemed light-hearted Wednesday. She laughed with her attorneys before the judge entered the courtroom.
If convicted of her charges in the slaying of Sporleder, Bacon could be given two life prison terms, court records show.
At the time of his arrest in the slaying, Sisney was on 10 years’ probation for assault and battery on a police officer in Creek County in 2009.
Sisney served about five months of a one-year prison term for being a felon in possession of a .380 handgun in Tulsa County in 2011, DOC records show.
Sisney also served about four months of a one-year sentence for domestic assault and battery by strangulation in Creek County in 2007, DOC records show.
At the time of his arrest, Kelley was on four and one-half years’ probation for breaking into Mac’s Jewelry in Cushing in 2012. He was ordered to serve six months in jail and pay $25,864 restitution.
Kelley’s criminal record includes a domestic abuse conviction in Ripley in 2006, for which he received a one-year probationary sentence.
Kelley also was ordered to pay $4,168 restitution for punching a man in Ripley, who received a fractured jaw in 2006, court records show.
Kelley admitted in court Wednesday that he was Bacon’s “muscle” in the drug trade.
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