AURORA | A 21-year-old Aurora man who fatally stabbed his stepfather and later posted a video of his bloodied body to Snapchat in 2017 has been sentenced to more than three decades in prison.
An Arapahoe County District Court judge on Monday sentenced Nickolas Vinson, 21, to 33 years in prison for the murder of his step-father, 50-year-old Oscar Lemar Owensby.
After originally pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to the crime last year, Vinson later switched his plea to guilty of second-degree murder.
The prosecution had asked for a maximum 38-year sentence, but District Court Judge Andrew Baum said from the bench that he stopped short of issuing the upper limit due to Vinson’s age and mental health.
Vinson, who was 19 at the time of murder, confessed to stabbing Owensby 11 times, including once in the neck, using an approximately 7-inch-long blade “with a brass knuckle style handle,” according to court documents.
The stabbing occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2017 at the bottom of a staircase in a home on South Rifle Street.
“Vinson knew Owensby was badly hurt from the initial stab wound and decided that he did not want Owensby to suffer so he kept stabbing Owensby to end it,” according to an arrest document filed against Vinson.
The two had been arguing earlier in the day about “chores, chipping in with money and being helpful around the house,” according to the affidavit.
Moments after stabbing Owensby, Vinson took a video of his body and posted it to Snapchat. In the video, Vinson’s mother was heard screaming while Vinson narrated: “Hey guys, I just killed him, I just killed him, I just killed him.”
Vinson then left his home and drove to a nearby friend’s house “because he wanted to say goodbye to his friends as he was going to go away for a long time,” according to the affidavit. He returned to his home and was arrested a short while later.
Vinson’s defense attorneys argued that Vinson acted in self-defense because he was afraid of his stepfather. Citing a coroner’s report, Defense Attorney Peter Harris said Owensby had methamphetamine and cocaine in his system when he was pronounced dead at the Aurora South Medical Center about 30 minutes after the stabbing.
“It breaks my heart,” Christi Ketchum, Owensby’s cousin, said at the sentencing hearing. “The people, the place he called home turned into his murderer.”
Owensby, a native of Sacramento, California, was working as a golf instructor and bartender at the Family Sports Center with South Suburban Parks and Recreation in Centennial when he was killed.
“So many people looked up to him,” said Julia Cobb, a former co-worker of Owensby’s.
Vinson’s mother, Celena Vinson, told the court her marriage with Owensby had frayed in the months before the stabbing due to Owensby’s drug use.
She held Owensby in her arms while waiting for first responders to arrive, according to court documents.
“I knew in that instant I was losing two people that I loved,” she said Monday.
Medical professionals who evaluated Vinson after the murder said he had a low IQ, was prone to impulsivity, low-processing speeds and emotional dysregulation, according to his defense attorneys.
Vinson had been prescribed medication for diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, twice in his life, but stopped taking the medication for unknown reasons both times, according to court documents discussed at the hearing.
“If Mr. Vinson had stayed on those medications, if someone had made him go to therapy, would Mr. Owensby be alive today?” Baum opined from the bench.
Vinson addressed the court dressed in dark blue, jail-issued scrubs while shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles.
“It’s like a living nightmare that I’m in right now,” said Vinson, who graduated from the Ombudsman Alternative Education program. “It’s a nightmare for (Owensby’s) family … we both lost someone that we loved.”
Vinson, who previously worked at UPS and the Colorado Catering Company, said Owensby had cared for him and his older brother for more than a decade.
“I miss my dad every day. I understand how serious this is and what harm I caused. I just want to be the best person I can be in the future. … I just hope (Owensby’s) family can forgive me.
“I know it’s still not right. I called him my dad for 14 years and he’ll always be my dad no matter what.”
Vinson has been incarcerated at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility since he was arrested. He will be credited with 648 days of time served.