Jury in beheading trial rejects insanity defense
NORMAN — Alton Alexander Nolen was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder and five assault crimes for beheading one co-worker at a Moore food plant and attacking five others in 2014.
His jury quickly rejected his insanity defense, reaching the guilty verdict in under two hours.
Nolen, 33, of Moore, had no reaction as Cleveland County District Judge Lori Walkley read the verdict.
He sat with his head down, his eyes closed and his fingers in his ears, as he has throughout the trial.
The jury returns Monday to begin the trial’s penalty phase, which could last all week or longer. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Nolen, a Muslim convert, confessed to Moore police and the FBI after he was shot inside Vaughan Foods on Sept. 25, 2014, and arrested. He admitted from his hospital bed that he beheaded one woman at the plant and tried to behead another after being suspended from his job.
He claimed he was acting in the name of Allah and following the law of the Quran.
“I felt oppressed,” he said in recordings played for the jury during the trial. “You know all I was doing was ... what I was supposed to do as a Muslim.”
Killed was Colleen Hufford, 54, a customer services representative who was attacked from behind.
In the courtroom for the verdict was her daughter, Kelli Hufford, who exhaled in relief as the verdict was announced. She later wiped away tears.
Prosecutors contended at the trial that Nolen mistook Colleen Hufford for another employee who had bumped into him in a hallway accidentally days before. That employee had left early the day of the attack.
Also in the courtroom for the verdict was survivor Traci Johnson. Sitting with her boyfriend, she closed her eyes as the verdict was announced.
In his confession, Nolen admitted he had planned to cut Johnson’s head off, too, because she had made the complaint about him that led to his suspension. Johnson had worked at the plant only four days and suffered severe cuts to her neck.
Defense attorneys had asked jurors to find Nolen not guilty by reason of insanity. They contended he was mentally ill and had made up his own religion in his mind by cobbling together conflicting beliefs.
In a closing argument Friday, defense attorney Shea Smith told jurors Nolen thought what he was doing at the plant was morally right. She said he thought that he had to complete the beheading to please Allah and get to heaven.
“What happened that day, it didn’t make any sense,” Smith said.
In response, District Attorney Greg Mashburn told jurors: “Senseless, violent crimes happen every day. I wouldn’t have a job ... if it didn’t. That doesn’t mean he’s insane.”
Jurors have been told throughout the trial that Nolen wanted to plead guilty and be sentenced to death for his actions at the plant.
“Why did he want to plead guilty if he thought that he was doing the right thing?” the district attorney asked in his closing argument. “Why would he be willing to take the death penalty?”
Mashburn began his closing argument by leaping to his feet from the prosecution table. He concluded by showing jurors the bloodstained kitchen knife used during the attack and a photo of the murder victim as she looked in life.
Asked later by news reporters about how passionate he was in court, the district attorney said, “Obviously. I mean justice for Colleen is what we’re all wanting, so I wanted to make the jury understand that.”
Jurors heard during the trial from four psychologists — two hired by defense attorneys and two called by the prosecution as rebuttal witnesses.
The key defense expert told jurors, “I found him to be quite delusional.”
The key prosecution expert testified Nolen has a personality disorder with anti-social traits but is not mentally ill.
If Nolen had been found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would have been sent to a state mental facility in Vinita, possibly for the rest of his life.
The food plant in Moore, now known as Fresh Creative Foods, stayed in operation after the attack but will close Dec. 1. Employees were notified this week.