Midland, MI: Midland man requests appellate lawyer after being sentenced to life without parole for stabbing death of girlfriend

Published: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 1:00 PM Updated: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 2:04 PM
LaNia Coleman | The Bay City Times

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Cody Nelson
MIDLAND — The man convicted in the stabbing death of a 22-year-old Midland woman had nothing to say for himself when he appeared for sentencing today.
Cody D. Nelson, 28, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the Dec. 9 slaying of his girlfriend, Megan A. Walters, at her apartment at Woodland Place in Midland.
Nelson, in an orange jumpsuit and shackles, showed no emotion in the packed courtroom where many people wept.
He told Midland County Circuit Judge Jonathan E. Lauderbach he did not wish to address the court.
Before sentencing Nelson to the statutory penalty, Lauderbach told the defendant the case was “without question, the most horrific I’ve seen in my tenure.”
A jury convicted Nelson of first-degree murder Oct. 4.
Nelson today signed paperwork to request a court-appointed attorney to appeal.
Prosecutor Michael D. Carpenter choked up after reading letters from Megan Walters’ cousin, Gina Brooks, and mother, Marilyn Walters, who discussed her battle with depression and her attempted suicide to escape the pain.
“I will never have those special times with my only daughter,” Marilyn Walters wrote. “I will never help her plan her wedding or hold her hand in the delivery room.”
Marilyn Walters said she has felt like a “zombie, on auto pilot.”
“I am waiting for the day when I won’t be so sad,” she wrote. “I never got to say good-bye.”
Carpenter thanked the Walters family for their “graciousness” in sitting through a difficult trial that exposed personal information about Megan Walter’s lifestyle, including her battle with drug abuse.
Through the ordeal, Carpenter said, the Walters family has shown concern for Nelson’s parents.
“They feel bad for what he put his family through,” said Carpenter. “That’s the kind of people they are.”
He said Nelson had a long criminal history dating back to his childhood. From Probate Court to Circuit Court, “the criminal justice system offered him every opportunity” to turn his life around, said Carpenter.
“He didn’t take advantage of any of it,” said Carpenter. “I’m glad there is only one (sentencing) option, because there is nothing left for him.”
Walters’ brother, Kevin Walters, addressed the court prior to sentencing.
“Everyone here should not have to be here,” he said. “No one should have to go through this. This affects a lot more than the people in this courtroom. My son will only know his aunt from my stories. Because of (Nelson), she is not here.”
In her letter, read by Carpenter, Brooks shared childhood memories, noting that she and Megan Walters often talked for hours about their dreams and plans.
“I still pick up the phone to call her,” wrote Brooks, who described Walters as her friend and surrogate sister.