Man tries to change plea in marijuana murder case

A 22-year-old man accused of killing a Kalispell man and stealing his money and medical marijuana plants tried to undo his plea deal last week.

Robert Lake, who recently lived in Whitefish, is accused of killing 49-year-old Wesley Collins on April 12, 2010, and then covering up the crime.

Lake, who pleaded guilty Feb. 14 to deliberate homicide and tampering with physical evidence, told Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler on March 16 that he didn’t mean to accept the plea agreement.

“I misunderstood the fact that it’s supposed to be 110 years and took it as 110 months,” he told Stadler.

Lake went on to say that he believes he received incorrect advice from his attorney.

“I’m not guilty of deliberate homicide,” he said, adding that “mitigating circumstances” exist that he wanted brought up at trial.

“I was under the impression that I had to do this,” he said. “I’ve come to realize, thinking later, that (my attorney) has no idea what the jury would do.”

Stadler said he wasn’t inclined to honor Lake’s request to withdraw his guilty plea considering that Lake had three or four opportunities to back out of the process.

During his Feb. 14 plea hearing, for example, Lake responded to deputy county attorney Alison Howard’s questions by saying that he bludgeoned Collins with a hammer and strangled him with a cord.

“Why’d you kill him?” Howard asked.

“He robbed us of our rent money and I didn’t want to handle it,” Lake said.

In return for Lake’s admission of guilt, prosecutors agreed to dismiss an unrelated robbery case. Lake allegedly pepper-sprayed a cashier at the Players Club Casino in an attempted robbery on Sept. 14, 2009.

Stadler said Lake will be provided a new attorney from the state’s public defenders office and be sentenced as scheduled on March 24.

Karrolyn Robinson, the 19-year-old Kalispell woman who drove Lake away from the casino robbery and is Lake’s common-law wife, was sentenced Dec. 16 to eight years in Montana Women’s Prison for her role in Collins’ murder.

Robinson, who lived in Whitefish in 2009, gave birth to a girl two days before she was arrested by Kalispell police. She was charged with tampering with text messages related to the case.

Jeffrey Nixon, 20, of Kalispell, faces charges of deliberate homicide, accountability for deliberate homicide, burglary, robbery and tampering with physical evidence for his role in Collins’ murder. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment before Judge Stadler on March 10.

During the initial investigation, Lake told police that Nixon had also beat Collins with a hammer, but Nixon claims Lake is solely responsible for the murder. Nixon’s trial could take place in July.

Cody Naldrett, 28, of Kalispell, was accused of helping Lake and Nixon remove Collins’ body from the apartment and drag it into the woods. Lake and Nixon allegedly told police about Naldrett’s role soon after they were arrested. A search of Naldrett’s apartment turned up two marijuana plants and pills that had been prescribed to Collins.

Naldrett was initially charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs and tampering with evidence. He pleaded guilty by Alford plea on March 16 to tampering with or fabricating of physical evidence, meaning he maintains his innocence but admits there is sufficient evidence to convict him.

As part of Naldrett’s plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to support dismissal of the drug charge and offer him a nine-year sentence with all but six months suspended.

Joshua Fritz, 21, of Kalispell, was accused of going into Collins’ apartment after the murder to steal marijuana plants, weight equipment and other items. He was charged with burglary, evidence tampering, theft and obstructing a police officer.

Fritz pleaded no contest in October to a charge of felony tampering with evidence and received a five-year suspended sentence.