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A romance novelist who wrote an online essay called How To Murder Your Husband has been sentenced to life in prison over the murder of her own spouse.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was found guilty of second-degree murder on 25 May following a seven-week trial.
Her sentence includes the possibility of parole after 25 years in custody.
Prosecutors said Crampton Brophy fatally shot Dan Brophy, 63, inside the now-closed Oregon Culinary Institute where he worked in 2018 because she stood to get money from his life insurance payout.
The prosecution also told jurors the couple had been facing financial difficulties at the time of the murder and said that she had researched and purchased a “ghost gun” kit online and then later bought a Glock 17 handgun at a gun show.
Crampton Brophy’s attorney argued the state’s evidence was circumstantial and disputed the claims of financial trouble.
They also brought in witnesses who testified about the couple’s strong and loving relationship.
Crampton Brophy took the stand and said she and her husband had both purchased life insurance policies as part of their retirement planning and had a plan to reduce their debt.
She also said her research into ghost guns was in preparation for a future novel.
Crampton Brophy’s case gained international interest after it emerged she once wrote an essay on murdering a husband.
The essay went into detail about several ways for committing an untraceable killing and avoiding getting caught.
But circuit Judge Christopher Ramras ultimately excluded the essay from the trial, noting it was published in 2011.
A prosecutor still mentioned the essay’s themes without naming it after Crampton Brophy took the stand.
She had remained in custody since her arrest in September 2018.
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