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Photo Mary Ann Bragg
Murder suspect Nathaniel J. Miksch of Provincetown outside Orleans District Court last week. |
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Murder case moves to Superior Court
Mary Ann Bragg
BANNER STAFF
In a steady drizzle outside Orleans District Court last Thursday Nathaniel J. Miksch was late to be delivered from the Barnstable House of Corrections, and two friends stood under an umbrella, one smoking a cigarette and the other holding a camera. Inside the courtroom two other friends waited, sitting together in the front row, and conferring now and then with an attorney from Provincetown, in court on another matter.
Finally the sheriff's van arrived at around 9:30 a.m., and Miksch and another prisoner stepped down from the back caged compartment, Miksch walking with a chain around his waist toward the back stairs of the courthouse, his attire preppy and his demeanor a little jaunty. He looked over at his two friends under the umbrella, made a flip remark to them and then disappeared down the stairs with the sheriff's deputies close on his heels.
The flip remark from Miksch, 28, contrasts starkly to the week he actually had as the sole suspect in the Oct. 25 murder of Provincetown resident Tim Maguire, who was found dead in a closet at his home on Conwell Street. Last week Miksch was indicted by a grand jury and his case will be moved to Barnstable Superior Court, with an arraignment scheduled for Dec. 1. The indictment is for murder, assault and battery with a belt and larceny of personal property under $250.
Miksch and Maguire, who was in his mid-30s, were involved in an intimate relationship characterized, some have said, by intensity, overuse of alcohol and illegal drug use. Maguire died of strangulation, according to the state medical examiner's report.
Cape & Islands First Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny has been tight-lipped regarding the case in recent weeks, issuing terse press releases with warnings that no further information will be given until the next court date.
Miksch's court-appointed attorney J. Drew Segadelli, though, has been more forthcoming and at times on the offensive, saying 'a ham sandwich' can be indicted in grand jury proceedings, given that prosecutors present their side of the case only.
Last Thursday, sitting in the hallway outside the Orleans courtroom with three of Miksch's friends looking on, Segadelli said he would not seek bail for Miksch, given the seriousness of the crime and the unlikely positive outcome. He also said that a discussion of bail would give the District Attorney an opportunity to 'grandstand.'
In terms of key pieces of evidence, Segadelli mentioned 'who was around at the time of the murder,' and made reference to the 'suspect character' of Maguire's two roommates, partners Erik Ovalle and Paul Evans. He said he had no further information on a person known only as 'Mike' who was reportedly with Miksch during a portion of the day of the murder.
Segadelli also said he hadn't received the complete toxicology report on Maguire's death, and he expressed some surprise at a question about the left arm of Maguire's being removed prior to police finding the body on Oct. 28. He also said his client 'did make some inculpatory statements' to police. And to build his client's defense, Segadelli sought and was granted funds for a private investigator and one 'expert' that he declined to explain.
In terms of Miksch's state of mind, Segadelli said that friends visit Miksch regularly at the House of Corrections, but no family members have been present.
Although friends in Provincetown have said Miksch was from North Carolina, a search of birth records by the state's vital statistics agency resulted in no evidence of his having been born in the state. Likewise a national criminal history search also revealed no convictions of Miksch for either felonies or misdemeanors. Miksch was arrested in Provincetown July 2000 for 'committing an unnatural act.'
A former Provincetown employer of the murder suspect called him a valued, full-time employee who 'came up through the ranks' from a dishwasher to waiter to bartender over the course of five or six years. 'I valued him as an employee,' the employer said. 'He had his ups and downs but basically he did a good job for me.'
An acquaintance of the murdered man who maintained an Internet friendship with him said Maguire described his household situation a few weeks before the murder as 'not going well' and that he, Maguire, had been asked to move out. In a description that was given to state police, the acquaintance described Maguire as saying he had done a lot of drugs during the summer and that he was done with that now. Maguire told the acquaintance that he had 'an intense sexual relationship' with Miksch during the summer but that it was over and that Miksch had wanted more.
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Nov 27th, 2003