A jury in Portland has convicted self-published romance novelist Nancy Crampton Brophy, who once wrote an essay titled "How to Murder Your Husband", of fatally shooting her husband four years ago.
KGW reported that the jury of seven women and five men found the 71-year-old guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, May 25. They deliberated for over two days regarding the death of Daniel Brophy.
The 63-year-old was murdered on June 2, 2018, as he prepped for work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland. Crampton Brophy displayed no visible reaction inside the crowded Multnomah County courtroom when the verdict was announced.
Crampton Brophy seen on surveillance video driving to and from culinary institute
Lisa Maxfield, who is one of Crampton Brophy's attorneys, said the defense team plans to appeal the ruling. Prosecutors told jurors in the case that Crampton Brophy was motivated by money problems and a life insurance policy, according to a report by NBC News.
Crampton Brophy argued that was not the case at all during the trial, saying that she had no reason to kill Brophy and that their financial difficulties had largely been solved by cashing in a chunk of her husband's retirement savings plan.
Crampton Brophy owned the same make and model of gun that was used to kill her husband. She was seen on surveillance camera footage driving to and from the culinary institute where her husband worked, according to court exhibits and court testimony.
Cops never found the gun that killed Brophy. Prosecutors alleged in the trial that Crampton Brophy swapped out the barrel of the gun that was used in the shooting and then discarded the barrel.
Defense attorneys said the gun parts were the inspiration for their client's writing and suggested in the trial that someone else might have murdered Brophy during a robbery gone wrong. Crampton Brophy testified during the trial, saying that her presence near the culinary school on the same day of her husband's death was just mere coincidence and that she had parked in the surrounding area to work on her writing.
Crampton Brophy faces a minimum 25 years in prison
Crampton Brophy's how-to piece detailed various options for committing an untraceable murder and professed a desire to avoid getting caught. Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras ultimately decided to exclude the essay from the trial, noting that the treatise was published back in 2011. A prosecutor, however, alluded to the themes of the essay without naming it after Crampton Brophy took the stand in the trial.
Crampton Brophy has remained in custody since she was arrested in September 2018, several months after her husband was shot and killed. Crampton Brophy's sentencing has been scheduled for June 13. She faces a minimum of 25 years in prison after the guilty verdict, according to CNN.
Prosecutors told jurors that Crampton Brophy followed her husband to work and shot him with a Glock 9mm handgun with investigators finding two 9mm shell casings at the scene. Crampton Brophy had also bought a "ghost gun" assembly kit that investigators later found at a storage facility.
