Hung jury ends murder trial for man accused of torching home with his young son inside
The murder trial for Nicholas Ecker, a Prairie Village man accused of setting fire to his ex-girlfriend’s home with their 17-month-old son inside in 2022, ended Tuesday with a hung jury.
Nicholas Adam Ecker, now 31, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated arson in the death of his son. Prosecutors contend he intentionally burned down a Shawnee home belonging to his ex-partner Karlie Phelps, killing their 17-month-old son — who prosecutors say he knew was inside the home.
Prosecutors also later charged Ecker with possession of a firearm by a felon. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges, according to court records.
In a trial ending Tuesday, Johnson County jurors were unable to come to a unanimous decision on whether Ecker was guilty of the first two charges. Jurors did find Ecker guilty on the weapons charge, court records show.
The fatal fire took place around 12:50 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2022, at the Phelps family home on W. 69th Terrace in Shawnee. Phelps left the toddler home alone for most of the night to visit a friend in Wyandotte County, according to court documents, and returned to find the house on fire.
Footage captured on a Ring camera belonging to Phelps showed Ecker arriving at the house and setting it on fire, according to court documents.
An autopsy revealed that the child was alive when the fire started, court records show, and suffered severe burns.
Others were inside the home during the fire but were able to escape uninjured. Phelps and her other two children, Ivan and Angelina, lost all of their belongings in the fire, according to a fundraiser posted by family members.
Ecker presented in front of the home 20 minutes after the fire was supposedly set, court documents read, even though emergency responders had not yet contacted him.
Investigators also reviewed cellphone records from phones belonging to both Ecker and Phelps, according to court documents. During Ecker’s trial, prosecutors presented text messages from Ecker questioning Phelps on her whereabouts hours before the fire, accusing her of lying, threatening to harm himself and sending her photos allegedly taken inside the house on W. 69th Terrace.
Ecker has been held in the Johnson County detention center since the fire, on a $1 million bond.
Phelps pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangering a child in August 2022. She was initially sentenced to 19 years in prison, but a Johnson County judge opted to sentence her to three years’ probation instead, The Star reported.
Juries must come to a unanimous decision on whether defendants are guilty or not guilty of charges. If not, it’s a hung jury.
Hung juries, also known as deadlocked juries, typically lead to a retrial, according to the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Ecker was charged with domestic violence in two separate incidents, one occurring week before the fire, The Star previously reported.
Earlier in 2022, Phelps had sought a restraining order against Ecker, according to court records.
A scheduling hearing, to begin determining next steps in the case against Ecker, has been scheduled for Oct. 16 at 8:45 a.m. in Johnson County court.
Previous reporting by Zach Murdock, Bill Lukitsch, Breanna Palmer and Anna Spoerre contributed to this article.
This story was originally published October 1, 2024 at 10:20 PM.
