Judge orders new trial in 'Critter Man' case

Former Montgomery physician David Nash has been granted a new trial once again in the 2011 killing of Ralph McNeil, a well-known animal trapper also known as the "Critter Man."

Judge Charles Price issued an order Friday that grants the new trial and sets Nash's bond at $1.2 million.

Also, Nash's co-defendant Jeremy Riley now is being compelled to testify because he has been sentenced for his role in the murder. Riley had not yet been sentenced when Nash was tried, and he did not testify at Nash's trial.

Nash was accused along with former girlfriend Serena English of hiring cousins Jeremy and Kindall Riley to kill McNeil.

The cousins admitted to the killing, portraying it as a robbery gone wrong. McNeil was shot and stabbed multiple times after answering a phony call for service in a remote area of west Montgomery.

Jeremy and Kindall Riley accepted plea deals for 25-year sentences. English pleaded guilty and received a life sentence.

Nash's defense attorneys based part of their argument for a new trial on Jeremy Riley's testimony in Kindall Riley's trial. Jeremy Riley testified the killing was a robbery gone wrong, not a murder-for-hire, which is what Nash was convicted of taking part in.

Nash was convicted of capital murder in August. In January, Price granted Nash a new trial based on the judicial doctrine of estoppel and juror misconduct. Judicial estoppel prevents parties in a legal action from taking inconsistent positions in separate legal proceedings.

In April, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Price to reinstate the conviction and sentence Nash. He received a sentence of life in prison.

However, the appeals court based its ruling on the technicality that a judge cannot order a new trial before a defendant is sentenced. Once Nash was sentenced, Price was able to order a new trial again.

Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Defense Attorney Jeff Duffey said in a statement that he hopes the district attorney's office "will recognize that David Nash cannot have committed the crime of which he is accused, given the testimony of their own witness."

"Judge Price recognized that Alabama case law frowns upon prosecutors presenting two conflicting theories of the same crime. Now that a new trial has been ordered, and Jeremy Riley's testimony has been compelled, we consider it unlikely that the state can earn a conviction," Duffey's statement reads.