Nicole Finn seeks venue change, separate trial in daughter's death
A West Des Moines mother accused of starving and neglecting her late teenage daughter is asking a judge to move her murder trial out of Polk County because of media reports and Iowa lawmakers' reaction to the case.
Nicole Finn is also asking a judge to give her a separate trial from her ex-husband, Joseph Finn II, who faces kidnapping and other charges in his daughter's death. The parents are currently scheduled to stand trial together in Des Moines in October.
The charges stem from the Oct. 24 death of Natalie Finn, 16, who medics and police found emaciated and lying in an adult diaper on the floor of her bedroom in her adoptive mother's home on 15th Street in West Des Moines. The death followed several reports to police in the preceding months that the teenager was being neglected and had been seen begging for food.
In a motion filed on Friday, Finn's defense attorneys wrote that the pool of jurors in the Des Moines area has been subjected to "pervasive" media coverage of the case and that it would be difficult to find jurors who don't have an opinion. In addition to news articles, the motion lists a litany of reader comments on just one Des Moines Register article about the conditions investigators found inside the Finn home where the parents are described as "monsters."
“The Mother needs to be terminated off this earth,” reads one comment cited by the attorneys. Another comment reads, "Give the parents a nice bucket of urine and feces to diet on for a few months."
The attorneys list Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Davenport as potential cities where the case has received less attention from journalists. A May 31 hearing was scheduled to discuss the motion.
Finn's attorneys are also seeking to have her trial severed from her ex-husband's because of their concerns about potentially incriminating statements he made to investigators. A search warrant application in the case unsealed in April showed that Joseph Finn II told investigators that his ex-wife controlled how often the teenager got to eat and use the restroom.
Nicole Finn faces a first-degree murder for Natalie's death and several other felonies for her treatment of two of Natalie's teenage siblings, a boy and another girl. Joseph Finn, 46, is facing several charges of kidnapping, neglect or abandonment and child endangerment. Both have pleaded "not guilty" to the charges.