Family reacts to overturned Gibian murder verdict

News of an appellate court's decision overturning the murder conviction of Zachary Gibian caused both joy and strife in the family of Scott Nager, the former New York City Police officer who prosecutors say was almost decapitated by his samurai sword-wielding stepson.

"All right! Yeah!" said Laura Nager, Scott Nager's widow and Gibian's mother, who now lives in Maumelle, Ark. "I love my son . . . He's a beautiful man that has a beautiful heart and he's in a place where he can't fulfill the potential that he has."

Nager, who has multiple sclerosis, said she has not seen her son in four years, but holds no hard feelings toward him, even though Gibian accused her, on the witness stand, of killing Nager.

"He could have done anything, as far as I'm concerned, to not be convicted," said Nager, who maintains she had no role in her husband's death. "It was a desperate ploy that was set up by other people."

Nager said Thursday she still misses her husband, who she believes was killed by a "third party." She said she believes her son found Scott Nager dead, assumed his mother did it, and took the blame for her.

Nager said she has not heard from any attorneys in the case, but said she would "do anything" to help her son get acquitted of murder charges.

Meanwhile, Scott Nager's father, Nathan Nager, 85, called the appellate court decision "ludicrous." He said he is prepared to sit through every day of another trial, as he did in 2006, if necessary.

"It didn't give me comfort to know Zachary is in jail, but I think when somebody commits a crime like that, they should be punished," Nager, of Whitestone, said. "They should not get off because he has a sharp lawyer. The guy is guilty. He admitted that he was guilty."

Scott Nager's aunt, Shirley Stein, of the Bronx, said her nephew deserved better than the treatment he got from his stepson, and now from the judicial system.

"I'm going to be 90 next month, and I'll tell you something - my heart is broken," Stein said, crying. "You never met a better man than Scott Nager."