MARSALEE NICHOLAS (MARCH 6, 1962 TO NOVEMBER 30, 1983)

             On this date, November 30, 1983, Marsalee Nicholas was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Kerry Conley. Her death inspired her family members to start Marsy’s Law. Nevertheless, Unit 1012 will remember how she lived and not how she died. We also encourage people to support Marsy’s Law. R.I.P Marsalee!

  

Marsalee Ann Nicholas

(March 6, 1962 to November 30, 1983)

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.pomc.org/mw_stories/marsalee_nicholas.html

Marsalee Ann Nicholas was not only physically beautiful from birth but was a beautiful, caring person during her 21 years on earth. As a child she was always drawn to wounded animals and was drawn to any person with a problem. She became a champion English and Western horseback rider at the age of ten and qualified as the top junior English rider in Los Angeles County. At 12 she traveled to Kentucky and won the Kentucky Equestrian over Fences Championship and qualified for Madison Square Garden. In addition to riding horses she was a talented artist winning her first art contest in the 2nd grade and the last as a senior in High School. She entered the University of California at Santa Barbara when she was 17 and made extra money as a fashion model. Her educational goal was to become a special education teacher of children with handicaps, both mental and physical. In High School she had worked with blind students. She spent her junior year at UCSB abroad in England at Richmond College.

In her spare time she was given the opportunity to model in London and Milan, Italy. She came back to UCSB to finish her senior year two quarters before graduation when she was brutally murdered by an ex-boyfriend who was stalking her. 

  

Dr. Henry Nicholas and Marsalee Nicholas

(PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.marsyslawforall.org/about/)

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE MURDER

Marsalee Ann Nicholas was home for the Thanksgiving holiday in her senior year at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She was brutally murdered by an ex-boyfriend, Kerry Conley. She had a new boyfriend and Conley threatened to kill him and then came by our house and tapped on Marsy’s window at midnight, waking her, and we believe he told her he was going “to commit suicide.” This is what he had said to a previous girlfriend in similar circumstances. Marsy raced out barefoot and drove her car down to his house 2 blocks down the street. She walked in with the keys in her hand and he met her with a shotgun aimed at her head at close range. He said the gun fell off the wall, discharged and hit her in the head. Story number two was that he shot over the head “to get her attention.” Neither story was believed by the Sheriffs who charged him with murder. Fortunately, we had compiled enough evidence of previous violence against women that he didn’t testify. One of his friends testified that he said three days before the murder that he was going to “blow Marsy’s head off.” The jury brought back a verdict of 2nd Degree Murder.

“If any good can come of something this horrible -- the loss of my sister and the losses of other families of crime victims – it is that these violent acts served as a catalyst for change, Marsy’s Law will provide for a more compassionate justice system for crime victims in California and make that a constitutional guarantee. Now the momentum can be put behind a U.S. Constitutional Amendment so that the rights of all crime victims, anywhere in America, can be protected.”

- Dr. Henry Nicholas, the brother of Marsalee Nicholas