The Lewiston man serving life in prison for the gruesome first-degree murder of David Cramer in 2015 won’t get a new trial, 2nd District Judge Jeff Brudie ruled Friday.
In a motion for a new trial filed last year, Patrick Nuxoll and his attorney, Rick Cuddihy, of Lewiston, argued that Nuxoll’s constitutional rights were violated when a witness for the prosecution didn’t disclose that he was under investigation for tax fraud. Cuddihy argued at a February hearing that if he had known about the investigation, he could have easily shot down the testimony of the witness, who was a deputy sheriff at the time.
The prosecution wasn’t aware of the Idaho Tax Commission investigation at the time of the trial, however. Brudie cited several Idaho cases in his ruling to illustrate the precedent that prosecutors can’t be held responsible for not disclosing information they don’t actually know.
“While (Deputy John Mainini Jr.) was employed as a law enforcement officer during the investigation and Nuxoll’s trial, his employment does not itself impute knowledge of his own criminal wrongdoing to the state,” Brudie wrote.
A Latah County jury convicted Nuxoll of first-degree murder in October 2018 for the stabbing and beating death of Cramer, who had more than 200 distinct injuries when he was discovered dead in a chair in Nuxoll’s Lewiston Orchards home. The case was tried in Moscow after an unbiased jury could not be found in Lewiston.
Nuxoll appealed his guilty verdict in 2019, but that action was on hold pending the outcome of the motion for a new trial. Cuddihy didn’t immediately respond to a message Friday seeking comment on whether Nuxoll would continue his appeal now that he has been denied a new trial.
