State Appeals 3rd Court Ruling in Nisbett Murder

Rex Nisbett

State Prosecuting Attorney Stacey Soule has filed a petition for discretionary review to the Court of Crim­inal Appeals requesting that the state's high criminal court overturn the 3rd Court of Appeals' December ruling that Rex Nisbett be acquitted for the 1991 murder of his estranged wife, Vicki. Nisbett was convicted and sentenced to 42 years for the murder in 2014. The 3rd Court overruled the jury's decision, however, on the grounds that, among other details, former Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty did not prove that Vicki Nisbett was actually dead – or that Rex performed any violent action that could have killed her. Vicki merely cannot be accounted for after 7:30pm on Dec. 14, 1991 (see " Who Killed Vicki Nisbett? And Is She Even Dead?," Jan. 27). The SPA, which handles all state efforts before its highest criminal court, argues in an 18-page brief filed Feb. 16 that the 3rd Court erred in its decision to discount certain circumstantial evidence in lieu of a position that asserted prosecutors could not prove a specific "fatal act of violence." "The only appropriate inquiry is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of murder beyond a reasonable doubt," wrote Soule. Nisbett's attorneys have until March 8 to file a response to the state's petition. Nisbett is currently being held without bail in the Williamson County Jail.