Editors Note: Some may find the following content triggering or graphic. 
 

The jury trial for the former UCCS student accused of killing two people in Crestone House began on April 8, over a year after the incident took place. 

Nicholas Jordan, 25, is accused of shooting and killing his roommate and UCCS student Samuel Knopp, 24, and Pueblo resident Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2024, in Jordan and Knopp’s dorm room at the Crestone building on campus.  

The trial began with opening remarks from prosecutor Anthony Gioia. In his opening statement, Gioia outlined evidence that the prosecution would present in the case, including Jordan’s keycard logs, a .40 caliber pistol found in Jordan’s car that matches casings from the crime scene and prior confrontations between the two roommates about Jordan’s cleanliness and weed usage. 

Gioia highlighted an altercation that occurred on Jan. 15, 2024, where Jordan allegedly threatened Knopp’s life. The altercation started over Jordan not removing his trash from the dorm. Gioia said the evidence presented in the case will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jordan committed the crime of menacing, or threatening another person’s safety, and that Jordan followed through on that threat one month later. 

The defense’s opening statement, presented by public defender William Patrick, urged jurors to pay attention to gaps in the evidence presented by the prosecution. Patrick also repeatedly mentioned Jordan’s “hidden struggle,” in reference to how he was treated by his roommates.  

Patrick conceded in his opening statement that Jordan “admittedly and sadly ended two lives,” but said that throughout the trial, “it will be very clear he had no intent to kill [Knopp] or [Montgomery].” 

The first day of the trial featured testimony from Knopp and Jordan’s third roommate who called campus police after hearing what sounded like “hammers on the wall” followed by screams, wailing, groaning and footsteps on the morning of Feb. 16. The roommate’s bedroom shared a wall with Knopp’s room, where he and Montgomery were found. 

Jarod Murdoch, the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on Knopp and Montgomery, testified that Knopp had eight bullet wounds in his body, and Montogomery had four. He said that there was no evidence of close-range firing, although, during the defense’s cross-examination, Murdoch said that close-range firing could not be ruled out. Knopp and Montgomery’s clothing could have obstructed the presence of soot and stippling. 

Several members of law enforcement from UCCS Police and Colorado Springs Police Department who responded to the scene of the crime on Feb. 16 or were involved in the case were put on the stand. Body camera footage from responding officers depicting Montgomery’s body on the bed and Knopp’s body on the floor was shown as evidence. Multiple officers testified they did not observe signs of a struggle in the room. 

The defense focused their cross-examinations for these witnesses on weapons that were found in Knopp’s bedroom, including a baseball bat by the door and a bowie knife found in Knopp’s desk drawer. 

The jury for the trial was selected on April 7. According to KKTV 11, the prosecution asked prospective jurors about how they weighed certain types of evidence while the defense asked if they believed one person could defend themselves against two people. 

The trial is slated for two weeks. According to Denver 7, the prosecution expects to rest its case on Monday, April 14. 

Timeline of Jordan’s case before the trial   

The case has seen numerous delays since starting 14 months ago. Here is a timeline of events:    

• Feb. 23, 2024: Jordan appears in court for the first time, and the request to reduce his bond was denied, according to reporting from The Gazette.    

• March 18, 2024: Jordan and his defense claim he isn’t competent enough to stand trial, and Judge David Shakes orders a mental evaluation to determine his competency. His preliminary hearing, which occurs before an arraignment, was scheduled for March 27 but was delayed indefinitely.    

• March 26, 2024: Jordan faces new charges after an alleged assault involving a deputy while he was being held in the El Paso County jail. According to previous reporting from The Scribe, deputy Taylor Smith testified in court that Jordan had assaulted another deputy after they denied him cleaning supplies for the toilet in his cell.  

• April 12, 2024: After an evaluation from Sarah Velsor, a forensic psychologist at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, found Jordan to be incompetent, a second competency evaluation was requested by the prosecution, according to reporting from The Gazette.    

• July 12, 2024: Forensic psychiatrist Patricia Westmoreland testified in court that she found that Jordan was competent enough to procced, which conflicted with the first evaluation done by the psychologist. The evaluation, which was performed on April 30, found that he had mental health issues, but it did not make him unable to help his defense team. 

• Aug. 2, 2024: Shakes ruled that Jordan was competent to stand trial after hearing testimony from both Velsor and Westmoreland. During the hearing, the defense used Velsor’s statements to argue that his “waxing and waning” symptoms have made it difficult to communicate with him, but the conflicting evaluations were enough for Shakes to deem Jordan competent.     

• Sept. 3, 2024: Extensive evidence is revealed by investigators at the preliminary hearing that was initially scheduled for March 27. Detective Ed Crofoot testified that the cartridges found in Knopp’s dorm room matched a handgun that was found inside Jordan’s vehicle when he was arrested, and fingerprint found on the handgun’s magazine was a match for Jordan, according to previous reporting from The Scribe. He testified that Jordan was the only person who scanned into Crestone’s eastern entrance from midnight to 9 a.m. on Feb. 16, doing so twice less than 20 minutes prior to the police responding to the shots fired.   

• Oct. 25, 2024: Jordan was supposed to enter a plea but was given extra time at the request of Rogers and Patrick, who said Jordan was “severely mentally ill” and that it was impacting the defense’s ability to represent him, according to past Scribe reporting.  

• Nov. 22, 2024: Shakes denied the defense’s request for another arraignment and the defense entered a plea of not guilty. Shakes gave the defense until Jan. 31 to decide if the not guilty plea was by reason of insanity as the defense finished their investigation into Jordan’s competency, according to previous reporting from the Scribe. 

• Jan. 31, 2025: The defense announces they will not pursue a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, according to past Scribe reporting. 

Nicholas Jordan enters the courtroom for a preliminary hearing on Sep. 6, 2024. Photo by Lillian Davis.