The Two-Faces of Steve Nodine; Politician and accused murderer of Angel Downs

GOOD	EVIL
Served on Alabama Sentencing Commission	Accused Murderer
Politician- Family Values Platform	Liar - impeached
Condemned Clinton for womanizing	Adulterer
Worked with aides babies	Drug and Alcohol Abuser
Help seniors and firemen	Batterer
US Army Serviceman	Stalker
Friend of Alexander Haig	Thief
Father and Husband	Neglectful
Prayer requests	Non-church attendee - hypocrite

Steve Nodine, "The Hammer" was cocked and fired allegedly killed long time girlfriend, Angel Downs, on Mother’s Day at her home in Gulf Shores.

More women are victimized at their home by their intimate partners and killed with firearms than all other means combined. Jurors expect domestic violence victims to accept responsibility and leave batterers. Most murders occur when that happens and we know Angel Downs was trying to end the abusive relationship with Stephen Nodine.

We struggle to understand the offender’s motives and ask, “Why did he do it?” Some comment Steve Nodine was a “good man,” he did much to help the Mobile community. He did his job as County Commissioner well. It is a societal myth that niceness cannot coexist with violence, or evil; consequently the “good” guy must not be a murderer.

I would like to point out that all of Steve Nodine’s pro-social “goodness” has in fact benefited him each time. Being “good” was his best camouflage. This was how he manipulated the public and his victims by being “good”. The good deeds are so the public vouches for his trustworthiness. His victims are then lulled into trusting him because he is “good.”

Angel lost her life because of her trusting him. She had lived through many other attacks by this batterer and he escaped arrest, when law enforcement was called to intervene, by using his “good service” as County Commissioner.

Repetitious physical assaults of the past relationship were accelerated and even justified allegedly by Nodine, because of the termination attempted by Angel. “What’s past is prologue” (William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene I).

When a woman is repeatedly battered, yet unable to flee the traumatic situation even when escape is apparent and possible, the result is learned helplessness.

Battering and stalking by definition are not static but an evolving, continual and progressive crime. Requiring a “course of conduct” over a period of time demonstrating a continuity of purpose. Nodine allegedly repeated the harassing, threatening and abusive behavior to give the appearance of power and control.

• Prior threats/violence with current victim and prior victim
• Prior stalking behaviors
• Criminal history
• Mental disorder or mental illness history
• Drug/alcohol abuse
• Weapons possession/use/access to
• Threatened suspect
• Presence or absence of inhibitors (inhibitors are factors that may prevent the suspect from acting out violently. I.e., family, friends, job, health, reputation, etc.)
• Proximity to significant dates, such as anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, etc.

We now have the facts that Steve Nodine has two faces. One for the public and the other, his true face he kept somewhat hidden. Steve Nodine is a skillful manipulator, he and his defense will try to focus on Angel Downs’s behavior not his. He may say it was an accident. It will be up to the prosecution to expose all signs of planning in Nodine’s behavior. Hopefully the jurors will find Nodine has committed acts that are abhorrent and anti-social, rather than engage in victim blaming of Angel Downs.

Why did he do it? Steve Nodine’s character traits motivate his offenses. We know from public records Nodine has an alleged criminal, narcissistic, or otherwise interpersonally-and-socially-compromised personality, he can be motivated to offend for a variety of reasons. He may lack the internal barriers that prevent offending, like guilt, remorse, empathy, or compassion. He may maintain a belief system, which devalues the rights of others and overvalues his rights. Nodine's evil face shows alleged indifferent to the pain, suffering, injury or humiliation of others. He may also feel the rules of society don’t apply to him, as his womanizing, pill-popping, pot smoking, stalking, battering and general unlawfulness seems to support.

Angel Downs knew Steve Nodine’s evil face and she had tried to expose and escape it. He did not want to lose control of her and possibly all he had worked for, if this came out. There were already nicks in his shining public armor from his drug arrest.

Did he try to prove he really was “good” and take her to the beach she loved on Mother’s Day? Maybe he feigned to say good-bye and end it? Did he leave his wallet at her house on purpose? Did he call her? Asking her to bring his wallet out to the truck? Did he then shoot her in the head?

Nodine has already began his "sympathy" defense which includes his less than ideal childhood, his absent father, brother with a brain injury, sister who was run over, mother who worked 3 jobs, and a bad hip, He has been victim blaming Angel telling Doctors she had a Romeo and Juliet death wish. Funny he didn't hear the shots fired (though the neighbors did) nor did he stop to help her. According to his phone records the only time he isn't talking or texting is the 60 mins after Angel's murder. Emails released show Nodine to be a batterer using his badge to intimidate and his addiction pushing over the edge. (Check out Peter Hyatt's statement analysis of emails) Angel was deathly afraid of him and even dreamed of him killing her.

Steve Nodine’s most powerful tool he will use in his defense is to be “good.” A “good man” doesn’t fit society’s image of a murderer. Society also wants them to be strangers. The fact is: MOST ARE NOT. “Goodness” is a powerful weapon. When someone is good, it is difficult to confront him or mistrust him.

Nodine’s camouflaged “goodness” has fallen apart. His character witnesses have been proven to be either near-strangers or alleged criminals. Nodine is trying to rely on societal biases and stereotypes about, “murderers.”

Look at the above chart contrasting Nodine’s “good” behavior against his "evil" behavior. Remember he is counting on society to perpetuate that niceness cannot coexist with violence, or evil; consequently the “good” guy must not be guilty of the alleged murder of Angel Downs.

Hopefully prosecutors will be able to expose Nodine and portray the so called “good” guy” as the evil murderer they allege he is.

Sadly Nodine has recently been released on bail. Hopefully not for long.

Friends of Steve Nodine

Nodine's attorneys are solicitating funds using photo's of Nodine's 13 year old son (many photos were when Nodine was having affair with Angel Downs) and President George W. Bush and various other politicians for Nodine's defense. He never mentions it is for MURDER. The site is called FriendsofSteveNodine.com and Paypal is the choice of payment as no local bank would agree to open a defense fund for Nodine.

Join us on Facebook as we Support Justice for Angel Downs.

Listen to the Dana Pretzer show on Scared Monkeys Radio with special guests WKRG Reporter Jessica Taloney and famous True Crime Author Diane Fanning discuss the Angel Downs murder case on 6/13/2010.

CRIMEWIRE 6/22/2010 at 8pm discusses the Nodine case with expert Peter Hyatt statement analysis of Caylee Anthony and Susan Smith fame. Along with Mobile journalist Kevin Lee of Lagniappe. Along with the rest of the expert team Dennis Griffin, Vito Collucci and Susan Murphy-Milano. you may listen on-line, podcast or call in to listen or contribute at (646) 478-0982

Steve Nodine on Dipity.

References

1. Adams, D. Why Do They Kill? Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2007.
2. When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of Homicide Data Sept 2009 www.vpc.org
3. Bible, A., and A. Weigl. “Cries of Abuse Unheeded, Assaults Rise to Murders.” News and Observer [Raleigh, NC], May 18-20, 2003, quoted in A. Klein, The Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004: 139.
4. Block, C. “Risk Factors for Death or Life-Threatening Injury for Abused Women in Chicago.” Final report for National Institute of Justice, grant number 96-IJ-CX-0020. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 2004, NCJ 199732. http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=199732
5. de Becker, G. The Gift of Fear. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1997, NCJ 177216 http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=177216
6. Greenfeld, L., and M. Zawitz. Weapons Offenses and Offenders. Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 1995, NCJ 155284. http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=155284
7. Macmillan, R., and C. Kruttschnitt. “Patterns of Violence Against Women: Risk Factors and Consequences.” Final report for National Institute of Justice, grant number 2002-IJ- CX-0011. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, August 2004, NCJ 208346 http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=208346

Interviewing Victims Of Crime

By Diane Fanning, Guest Writer

As a true crime writer, I am often asked if I feel fear, apprehension or anxiety when interviewing a murderer or travelling to a remote site where a killer left a body or going into a less than optimal neighborhood in search of an interview subject.  The short answer is: Yes, of course, I am.

However, my reaction to those situations pale in comparison to the intensity of my nervousness I feel when doing another aspect of my work—talking to the family members and friends of the deceased.  The first telephone conversation or face-to-face meeting churns acid in my stomach and makes my hands shake.

I am not afraid of these people but I am fearful that I might say the wrong thing or display the wrong reaction and, without intending to do so, cause a surviving loved one additional pain.  When I meet the victim’s family members and close friends, they are experiencing the worst time in their whole lives.  The world has turned upside down.  They are shattered by grief, desperate for justice and fearful of the emotional price a trial will exact or depleted by the one they just survived.  Their pain is palpable and infectious.

At times, I have been known to cry along with them.  At other times, I’ve sat silent and listened as they ranted about the perpetrator, the crime and the agony of the judicial process.  Some have told me later that being able to share their sorrow and anger with someone not directly involved in their tragedy eased some of the oppressive burden. 

There have been a few along the way, who refused to talk to me or set up conditions that made it impossible because their demands crossed my ethical boundaries or financial limitations.  Although I could readily understand their reluctance, it always broke my heart because I knew that I had failed to reassure them.

One of the reasons I write true crime books is because the most important person in any of these stories is the victim.  I believe that any time we lose a life to a senseless act of violence; it impacts all of us even when it is a stranger.  Those closest to the deceased person feel the loss most keenly but the pain ripples out to the community and beyond to all of us who value life.

When my readers pick up one of my books, I want them to see the victim as a real person—as someone who deserved to live their life to the fullest.  Only family and friends can supply me with the anecdotes and the information about personality that enable me to shape a portrait of their deceased loved one and thus, allow my readers to understand the magnitude of the loss suffered by this crime.

I have found through the years that the people who shared their memories and thoughts with me are grateful that they did.  I’ve received many notes and emails thanking me for remembering their loved one in my book.  Some of these people continue to maintain contact, years after publication.

The more in-depth information I can gather, the better job I do.  When I wrote GONE FOREVER, I had an amazing treasure chest of information about Susan McFarland—access to her personal journal, a sibling’s perspective on her childhood and the memories of friends throughout her life.  I felt a strong emotional connection to her.  I wrote about this feeling in the Afterword of the book:

One morning while driving up Interstate Highway 35 to Austin, Susan McFarland became so real to me that I thought about how much more I would enjoy the ride if she were sitting beside me sharing stories and passing the time together.  Then the realization struck—I would never be able to meet her.  I would never bump into her in Central market.  I would never laugh with her over lunch.  I would never hear the sound of her voice or see the sunny glow of her smile.

At that moment, I was hit by a sense of loss so visceral; it took my breath away and formed pools of water in my eyes.  The light of a life-enriching personality was snuffed out, never to brighten anyone’s day again.   Gone forever—all because of the violent selfishness of one man.

To this day, I think of Susan when I enter the dark recesses of a crime—talking to killers, looking at crime scene photos, reading autopsy reports.  She is my bridge to surviving family and friends, one that allows me to glimpse the inner strength and determination that many of them possess.  She reminds me that her story has the potential to save the lives of other women.  I owe her a debt of gratitude that I can never repay.  

God bless you, Susan McFarland.






Diane Fanning is the author of several true crime and mystery books, including "Mommy's Little Girl," the story of the Caylee Anthony case.  She is also a contributor to the blog, Women In Crime Ink.