A jury considering the case of a man accused of murdering a developmentally disabled man and dumping his body in North Cheyenne Canyon went home Wednesday after an afternoon of deliberation.

Jurors will resume deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the first-degree murder trial of Kyle Sebastian Stott.

After hearing closing arguments in the week-long trial on Wednesday morning, jurors must decide whether witnesses’ testimony carry weight enough to convict Stott, 19, in the Jan. 5, 2009, killing of Jason Holley, 22, of Colorado Springs.  

The prosecution focused on interviews and testimony by Stott’s close friend, a fellow inmate and his sister. Each recounted in such detail instances when Stott told them he killed a man that he must have participated in the murder, prosecutors said.

“It’s in the details,” said Deputy District Attorney Shannon Gerhart. “They are consistent (among the witnesses) and they are detailed.”  

What Stott knows about the murder, such as how the weapons were later cleaned and how Holley’s clothes were disposed of, prove that he took part in the killing, Gerhart said.  

According to prosecutors, Stott and his brother-in-law Derek Lee Hernandez took advantage of Holley, stealing his video games and gaming systems in the weeks before the killing. On the day of the murder, they called Holley a snitch and stripped him of all he had, including an Xbox and his clothes, before killing him with an ax and a knife, prosecutors said.

Stott’s attorneys argued that the prosecution lacked material evidence and credible witnesses to prove their case. They contend that Hernandez killed Holley by himself.  

Witnesses who testified were unreliable, the defense said.  

“Zach Maynard likes to talk in vivid details, he exaggerates.  He even said he added some details,” said Stott’s attorney Richard Bednarski.  He was referring to Stott’s friend, whose interview with detectives the prosecution used to implicate Stott in the murder.

Bednarski also discredited Keith Burrell, one of Stott’s fellow inmates who testified that Stott had told him he had killed someone. Burrell made up the information to help his own case, Bednarski said.

The defense argued that no one testified as to what weapon caused Holley’s death and the coroner never said that Holley was beheaded, providing no concrete evidence proving that Stott killed Holley with ax blows to his neck.

“When you don’t have proof you go with a story,” Bednarski said.  

Deputy District Attorney Erik Lamphere said that prosecutors lacked material evidence because Holley’s body was not found until four months after the killing.  

As the lawyers wrapped up closing statements, Jan Holley, the victim’s mother, had to leave the courtroom. The sounds of her sobs filled the room before the door shut behind her.  

—Contact the writer at 636-0187.

Kyle Stott Photo by

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