Convicted killer denied parole in 2018 homicide case

Convicted murderer Ryan Cody Lamb was denied parole at a hearing last month.

According to Montana Board of Parole and Pardons, Lamb, 41, was told he’d serve at least another year in the state prison in Deer Lodge following a July 29 hearing.

Lamb stabbed his then boyfriend Ryan Nixon, 31, a former Libby resident, to death with a pair of scissors at a Two Mile Drive apartment complex in Kalispell during the early-morning hours of Aug. 5, 2018.

Lamb has been eligible for parole since 2021 after he was sentenced Feb. 12, 2020, to 10 years by since retired Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison.

Board officials recommended Lamb complete Integrated Correctional Program Model programming. It also encouraged Lamb to participate in any available programming addressing domestic violence. 

According to the official record, the board denied Lamb parole due to the nature of and severity of the offense and cited a strong objection from citizens. It also indicated parole would unduly diminish the impact and seriousness of the offense and Lamb’s continued need for programming.

Lamb, a former Whitefish resident, entered a plea of guilty by way of Alford to negligent homicide Dec. 11, 2019.

Then, Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner sought a 10-year sentence to the Montana State Prison while Lamb’s attorney, Emily Lamson, sought a 10 year-suspended sentence.

Lamb initially faced a deliberate homicide charge, but a hung jury and mistrial during a nine-day jury trial in June 2019, led prosecutors to file an amended charge of negligent homicide.

Judge Allison declared a mistrial June 14, 2019, after jurors couldn’t decide on a verdict after 13 hours of deliberations. Jurors first voted 8-4 for not guilty, then 11-1.

At Lamb’s sentencing 5 1/2 years ago, dozens of friends and family of Nixon spoke of their loved one.

Nixon’s mother, Lynn Nixon, and father, Randy Nixon, as well as his younger sister, Amber Nixon Pederson, were among those who shared their feelings about Ryan.

“What kind of person are you?” Lynn Nixon asked as she glared at Lamb. “He would have never done this to you. Shame on you! Honestly, shame on you Ryan Lamb!! I’ve seen no sympathy, no regret. My son is in an urn in my home and that’s all I have left.”

Randy Nixon said then the murder of his son has left the family in a bad place.

“None of you have a clue what we’re going through, sometimes I don’t even know how I feel,” Randy said. “We all tried to help you. I just don’t know how you sit there with your attorneys, how you made us go through this?”

Amber Nixon Pederson was Nixon’s baby sister.

“Look at this room, it’s filled with his friends and family,” Pederson said. “For people to say Ryan [Nixon] was abusive is ridiculous! He was always the life of the party. You used my family, especially my mother,” Pederson continued. “She gave you a roof over your head, food and money to gamble and you never appreciated it ... You brutally stabbed him. That’s not love, that’s hate, that’s rage.”

At sentencing, Lamb trumpeted his completion of a 13-week treatment program and his enrollment in a six-to-nine month program at a facility in Portland, Oregon.

Patty Kennelly, a mental-health worker, was the only person to speak on Lamb’s behalf.

She explained meeting Lamb at North Valley Hospital in February 2018 after he described having suicidal thoughts.

“I then saw him five times between Feb. 5, 2018, and mid-March 2018, and then I saw him again in the Flathead County Detention Center on the day of the incident,” Kennelly said. “He (Lamb) has had a lot of contradictory feelings.

“He loved Ryan, but he felt he wasn’t going to survive the relationship,” Kennelly said.

Kennelly said she believes Lamb isn’t a threat to anyone in society.

Flathead County Deputy Attorney Alison Howard then asked Kennelly if she felt Lamb was a threat when he used drugs or alcohol.

“Not to anyone except himself,” Kennelly said.

Howard talked about how Lamb had used methamphetamine and alcohol in September 2019 while he waited to see how his case would go.

“Knowing he had a pending charge, he still chose to participate in felonius activity,” Howard said.

Following sentencing, Kalispell Police Detective Jim Wardensky said he hopes the Nixon family can find some peace.

“I trust the judgment and wisdom of Judge Allison, but first and foremost, I hope the Nixon family can find peace,” Wardensky said. “In retrospect, I’m proud of the investigation we did.”

Flathead County prosecutors filed an amended charge of negligent homicide, as well as the original charge of deliberate homicide, on Aug. 1. Lamb pleaded not guilty Aug. 21 to both the amended and original charge.

Backus, representing Lamb, filed a number of motions for acquittal, violation of the double jeopardy clause and to dismiss the case for a lack of probable cause.

But Judge Allison, in a series of rulings between Aug. 28 and Sept. 6, denied each motion.

On Sept. 16, 2019, Greg Rapkoch of the county Public Defender’s Office filed a petition for writ of supervisory control to appeal Judge Allison’s decision to not dismiss the case on the double jeopardy clause.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled against that appeal.

Lamb faced a prison term of 10 to 100 years if he would have been convicted on the deliberate homicide charge. A conviction on the negligent homicide charge could have resulted in a 20-year term in Montana State Prison.