Michael Nash, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in killing of Good Samaritan
An Arlington man will spend up to 45 years in prison for killing a good Samaritan who intervened in a violent domestic dispute in October 2018.
Michael Nash, 29, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Monday — the morning he was set to go to trial on that charge and four others, including forcible sodomy and robbery. The other charges were dropped.
Nash had intended to argue that he was not in his right mind when he killed Julio Patricio Salazar, 54, a Bolivian immigrant described by family and witnesses as a hero who tried to help a woman in distress.
But defense attorney Damon Colbert said he did not think Nash could get a fair trial under current pandemic restrictions, with jurors unable to see his face during the proceedings. Nash’s attorneys also argued that they would struggle to pick an impartial jury and to respond tactically to jurors’ reactions if the panel wore face coverings.
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A request to delay the trial further was denied last week.
“Under the circumstances, this was the right resolution,” Colbert said.
Prosecutors did not comment on the plea.
Colbert added that Nash did not deny killing Salazar and “feels a deep, deep sense of remorse.” He wanted to dispute only that he had acted intentionally, Colbert said. When he is sentenced in September, Colbert said, Nash will express his contrition publicly.
At a hearing in 2019, Nash’s then-girlfriend told a judge that he was acting strangely the afternoon of the attack.
“It was like he wasn’t the same person,” she testified. “He said that we’re supposed to die, that he has to kill me.”
They began arguing on the street loudly enough to attract police, but after separate interviews, they were allowed to leave together. As the sun set, they ended up on South George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike, on the edge of a poorly lit park, where Nash again became belligerent, the woman testified.
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She testified that he pushed her to the ground and began beating her, stripping her of her clothing and touching her sexually.
“He just kept hitting me, and I was just yelling and screaming,” she said.
Her cries attracted the attention of Salazar, who approached and asked whether she was okay. Nash then turned and began attacking him, according to court records, fleeing before police arrived. Salazar died at a hospital that night.
Prosecutors argued at the 2019 hearing that the severity of the assault on Salazar showed intent to kill, and with his plea, Nash concurred. But the agreement limits his potential punishment; had he gone to trial and been convicted on all charges, he could have faced more than four life sentences.
“My brother ... was one of the most kind-hearted and genuine people I have ever met,” Salazar’s sister wrote in an online tribute after his death. “And, as he showed by his final act of great courage, he was a man of integrity and character, who believed in doing the right thing no matter what the cost.”
She raised more than $30,000 for organizations in D.C. and Bolivia that help victims of domestic abuse.
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