A 30-year-old Riverton man pleaded not guilty to manslaughter Thursday in Lander, while the parents of the young man he’s accused of killing wept and clutched a framed photograph of their son.
Nicholas Joren Blackburn sat next to his defense attorney, Valerie Schoneberger, in Fremont County District Court during a Thursday arraignment hearing. He wore black-rimmed glasses, an ill-fitting orange jumpsuit and shackles.
“I plead not guilty, your honor,” Blackburn told Judge Jason Conder.
Conder set Blackburn’s trial for March 17.
Schoneberger also urged Conder to reduce Blackburn’s bond from $50,000 cash-only to $10,000 cash or surety.
The prosecutor, Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun, countered, saying $50,000 is appropriate considering the violence of which Blackburn is accused, as well as his history of battery and domestic battery convictions.
Conder agreed and left the bond at the higher amount.
Clutching The Frame
The mother and stepfather of 29-year-old Pete Ouray sat tearfully in the front row of the court gallery during the arraignment on the prosecutor’s side.
Rudy Apodaca, the stepfather, wrapped his arm around the shoulders of Alvina Ouray, Pete Ouray’s mother. Ouray wept and clutched a framed photograph of her son.
After court the parents walked outside to their car.
At the same time, Fremont County Sheriff’s deputies escorted Blackburn to the jail transport van. Blackburn walked alongside other defendants who attended their own arraignments that morning.
Alvina Ouray and Rudy Apodaca watched Blackburn, while speaking with Cowboy State Daily.
“When the trial starts, I wish to have support from all who’ve been victimized by Nicholas,” Alvina Ouray said, referencing Blackburn’s past battery, domestic battery and violence-on-police charges. “I’ll be their voice for them.”
Alvina dissolved in tears again.
Cousins And Friends
The case affidavit says Blackburn and Pete Ouray were “cousins and friends.” Blackburn came to the Riverton home that Pete, his mother and stepfather shared on the evening of March 14.
Family members who gave Blackburn a ride to his friend’s house that night confirmed as much to investigators, reportedly.
Alvina went to bed that night listening to the two men talk. She woke around midnight to the sound of them arguing, she told Fremont County Sheriff’s investigators.
“Calm down and knock it off,” Pete Ouray told Blackburn, in Alvina’s recollection.
But it wasn’t uncommon for the pair to argue, she told investigators.
She was getting ready for work the next morning, March 15, at about 6:30 when she noticed Blackburn sleeping on the couch, the document continues.
Blackburn told her he was going to check on Ouray.
Alvina left for work.
Stepfather Recalls
Apodaca told investigators that he heard the two men arguing in Pete’s bedroom at around 2 a.m.
At 5:45 a.m., Apodaca went to the kitchen to make coffee for Alvina, and he saw Blackburn sleeping on the living room couch, the affidavit says.
After Alvina left for work and after Blackburn went to check on Pete Ouray, Apodaca heard the men arguing in the bedroom again, he told investigators.
Pete was yelling for Blackburn to leave him alone, reportedly.
Apodaca also recalled hearing a struggle in the room, then watching Blackburn leave angry and agitated.
Apodaca asked Blackburn what that was all about. Blackburn threw Pete Ouray’s car key at Apodaca, and said if the stepfather wanted to know, he “should go ask Pete,” the document relates.
And Blackburn stormed out of the car, got in a black, four-door passenger car and left.
Blackburn’s mother later confirmed to investigators that she picked him up from the Ouray home that morning, March 15.
Face-Down
The affidavit says Alvina Ouray came home from work the afternoon of March 15 and went into Pete’s room to check on him. She found him face-down on his bedroom floor, which wasn’t unusual, she told investigators.
In the early morning hours of March 17 — a Sunday — she checked on her son again and found him face-down in the same position. She realized he may be dead and called 911, the document says.
She was hysterical on the phone, Fremont County Sheriff’s Detective Anthony Armstrong noted in the affidavit.
Deputy Megan Lee responded and found Pete Ouray face-down, deceased, with blood stains on his bedding and signs of having been dead for “days,” says the document.
Fremont County sheriff’s and coroner’s personnel documented case evidence along with agents of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. They couldn’t identify a cause of death right then, but noted that blood had pooled under Pete Ouray’s body and appeared to come from his mouth and nose.
His outer clothing was turned inside-out as if it was yanked off his body, but the sleeves were still on his wrists, the affidavit says.
He had a bite mark on his torso that he could not have given himself, Armstrong noted in the document.
Blunt Force
Forensic pathologist Dr. Randall Frost conducted an autopsy March 20, and made a preliminary finding that Ouray had died of blunt-force trauma causing a brain bleed, in a homicide.
The blow to his head could have been a fist, Frost added, reportedly.
Armstrong conducted a follow-up interview with Apodaca on Sept. 23. Apodaca said he heard a “thud” around 6:20 the morning of March 15, like a “punching bag kind of sound,” the detective noted in the affidavit.
In the nearly two days that followed after Blackburn left the home, no one except Alvina Ouray, Apodaca and Pete Ouray were in the home, Apodaca told Armstrong.
Blackburn was charged with manslaughter, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, on Oct. 4. His case rose to the felony-level Fremont County District Court the following week.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
