Killer Gets 20 Years to Life for Grove Slaying

A Fallbrook man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for what authorities described as the drug-induced shooting death of a man in an orange grove.

William Morgan Phillips, 18, was sentenced Thursday before Vista Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan in the death of 20-year-old David Timothy Nikkel.

The victim’s body--with a bullet lodged in the head, a stab wound to the hip and part of a right ear cut off--was found Jan. 21 in a Bonsall orange grove.

Phillips originally had been charged with first-degree murder, but he pleaded guilty two months ago to a lesser charge of second-degree murder in an agreement with prosecutors. A first-degree murder conviction could have brought a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in prison.

Phillips will be eligible for parole after serving more than 13 years. Defense attorney Richard Mills said Phillips will probably be in prison 17 to 23 years.

According to testimony, Phillips, Nikkel and another man drove in Phillips’ truck to the deserted orange grove near the intersection of Interstate 15 and Old Highway 395.

The trio snorted methamphetamine, then Phillips shot Nikkel in the face, police said. Part of Nikkel’s right ear was also sliced off, and he had a 6-inch-deep knife wound in his right hip, according to a probation officer’s report.

In a statement to the court through his attorney, Phillips said he took “full responsibility” for the death.

According to the report, a drug debt owed by Nikkel to a supplier of Phillips appeared to be what triggered the death.

Phillips told probation officials last month that the shooting was accidental. He said Nikkel owed about $2,000 to $3,000 and that he only intended to rough up Nikkel for the supplier. But Nikkel, he said, grabbed the barrel of a gun Phillips had brought with him and the gun went off.

Phillips said at that time that he had been “up” on methamphetamine for about 30 straight days, nodding off for only a few hours a day.