A self-published romantic novelist who wrote an essay called How To Murder Your Husband has been found guilty of fatally shooting her husband four years ago.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was convicted of second-degree murder yesterday after a U.S. jury of seven women and five men in Portland deliberated on the death of chef Daniel Brophy over a two-day period, according to the local KOIN-TV news station.
The 63-year-old was murdered on June 2, 2018, while preparing to work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in southwest Portland.
Crampton Brophy showed no visible reaction when he heard the verdict in the full courtroom of Multnomah County.
Lisa Maxfield, one of her lawyers, said the defense team plans to appeal.
It comes after prosecutors told the jury that Crampton Brophy was motivated by money problems and a life insurance policy.
During the trial, she said she had no reason to kill her husband and that her financial problems had been solved mainly because of the effectiveness of part of Brophy’s retirement savings plan.
But she was found to have the same brand and model of weapon that was used to kill her husband, although police never found the weapon.
He stated that his presence near the cooking school was a coincidence
Image: Daniel Brophy was assassinated in 2018
Prosecutors said Crampton Brophy changed the barrel of the weapon used in the shooting and then discarded the barrel.
Defense attorneys said the gun parts were actually an inspiration for Crampton Brophy’s writing, before adding that someone else could have killed Brophy during a robbery that went wrong.
Crampton Brophy was also seen on surveillance camera footage leading to and from the culinary institute, judicial exhibits and forensic testimonies were shown.
During the trial she stated that her presence near the culinary school on the day of her husband’s death was a mere coincidence and that she had parked in the area to work on her writing.
Crampton Brophy’s essay on the murder of a husband went into detail about various ways to commit an untraceable murder and avoid being caught.
Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras finally ruled out the trial trial, noting that it was published in 2011.
But a prosecutor alluded to the subjects of the trial without naming him after Crampton Brophy took office.
He has been in prison since his arrest in September 2018.
She will be convicted on June 13.