ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – A man has been convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of his parents and their housekeeper in their Newport Beach home in 2019, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The trial will now proceed to a sanity phase to determine the final sentencing.
What we know:
A jury convicted 34-year-old Camden Burton Nicholson, of three counts of first-degree murder.Â
The victims were his parents, 64-year-old Richard Nicholson and 61-year-old Kim Nicholson, and the family’s 57-year-old longtime housekeeper, Maria Morse of Anaheim.Â
A jury convicted Camden Burton Nicholson, 34, of three counts of first-degree murder for killing his parents and their housekeeper in 2019. / Orange County District Attorney’s Office
The conviction includes the special circumstance of committing multiple murders.Â
The killings followed an ultimatum from his parents that he check into a mental health and addiction treatment facility.
Timeline:
The sequence of events leading up to the arrest and discovery of the bodies is as follows:
February 11, 2019: Nicholson confronted his father in their Newport Beach home and stabbed him repeatedly. When his mother returned home a few minutes later, he hit her with a metal statue and repeatedly stabbed her, killing her in the garage.
February 12, 2019: Nicholson attacked the family’s longtime housekeeper, Maria Morse, when she arrived to clean the house. He repeatedly stabbed her and slit her throat before stuffing her body in a large plastic bin in the kitchen pantry.
Following the murders: Nicholson used his parents’ car to go on shopping sprees, including spending hundreds of dollars at a Santa Ana marijuana dispensary and buying sex toys.
February 13, 2019: A day after killing the housekeeper, Nicholson drove his father’s car to a Kaiser Permanente facility in Irvine. He dialed 911 and reported that he had killed his parents in self-defense, claiming they were trying to kill him.
After the 911 call: Newport Beach police officers conducted a welfare check on the home. They found the house in disarray with blood throughout, and the three victims had multiple stab wounds.
The other side:
Lawyers representing Camden Nicholson argued that he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
What’s next:
The sanity phase of the trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday, October 23.
This phase will determine whether Nicholson was criminally insane at the time of the murders. The verdicts from this phase will determine whether he is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or if he will be sent to a mental health facility.
What they’re saying:
The conviction was announced by the Orange County District Attorney, Todd Spitzer.Â
At the time of his arrest, Nicholson had claimed to authorities that he killed his parents in self-defense. He reported on his 911 call that he had killed his parents in self-defense because they were trying to kill him.
The Source: Information for this story is from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.