Judge rejects gag order for widow in Lowell murder case

A judge declined to issue a gag order Friday against the widow of a man shot dead in Lowell.

Timothy Raymond Thomas, 40, of Highland is charged with murder in the Jan. 3 shooting death of Nicholas Lile, 42. He originally was charged with voluntary manslaughter until prosecutors upgraded it on Jan. 27.

Documents allege alcohol and an argument over their military service preceded the shooting.

Lake Superior Judge Salvador Vasquez ordered Thomas released on $7,000 cash bond Thursday saying prosecutors hadn’t met their “burden of proof” needed to keep him in jail, according to court documents.

His release set up a cascade of other decisions Friday.

After a lengthy consultation at his bench with both side’s lawyers, Vasquez rejected an April 4 defense motion for a gag order against Lile’s widow and a handful of others connected to the case, due to social media posts by her, claiming it would taint a jury’s impartiality.

Instead, the judge asked prosecutors if they could speak to her privately. He issued a gag order for both side’s lawyers.

Vasquez also declined to rule on the state’s motion to set up a no-contact order against Thomas barring him from the widow and her child. Vasquez would take both “under advisement,” meaning both requests would be put on ice for now.

But, each could be brought back at a later date if problems arose, he said.

The jury trial date is scheduled for Nov. 15, with pretrial conference Oct. 1.

Thomas said he understood prosecutors had since added an amended charge, a gun enhancement, that could add between 5-20 years to his sentence.

Under the current charge, Thomas was expected not to have weapons, but would be allowed to keep his current gun permit “intact,” Vasquez said.

He also granted the state’s request to return a Glock pistol belonging to Lile’s widow, saying it wasn’t relevant evidence to the case.

One of Thomas’ attorneys, Chris Cooper, said they would not object, since Vasquez was holding possible legal rulings over both parties.

At the hearing’s end, prosecutors filed the victim’s family into a side room until the defendant’s family left the courtroom.

Ben Murphy is Thomas’ other defense lawyer. Prosecutors Michelle Jatkiewicz and Jennie Bell are assigned to the case.

An initial police release said Lake County sheriff ’s officers responded around 12:12 a.m. Jan. 3 to a 911 call about an altercation at a home in the 17900 block of Lincoln Court in unincorporated Lowell.

They found an unresponsive man with a gunshot wound inside the house, police said. Court documents said that before police entered the house, they encountered a man waiting near a blue SUV at the corner of 179th and Lincoln Court, according to 911 dispatch instructions.

The man identified himself as Thomas and told officers he’d been having drinks with the owners of the house when he and Nicholas Lile got into an argument, records said. Thomas told police he told Lile he was going to leave, at which point Lile grabbed him by the throat and started choking him, the affidavit said.

Thomas said he escaped Lile’s grasp and kept telling him he was going to leave, but then Lile punched him and lunged at him, court records said. When the officer asked Thomas if he’d shot him, Thomas said, “Yeah, I put two shots up here,” and pointed to his left upper chest.