Self-published romance novelist Nancy Crampton Brophy, who wrote an essay titled 'How To Murder Your Husband', has been convicted of killing her husband by a jury in Portland, Oregon, USA. It took the jury just eight hours on May 26, 2022 to return a guilty verdict against Nancy Crampton Brophy for shooting dead her husband, Daniel Brophy.
Victim Daniel Brophy, 63, was a chef and he was killed on June 2, 2018 at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland. 'Crampton Brophy showed no visible reaction to the verdict in the crowded Multnomah county courtroom. Lisa Maxfield, one of her lawyers, said the defence team would appeal against the decision,' reads a report by The Guardian.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, is known for writing the 'Wrong Never Felt So Right' series, which included the novel 'The Wrong Husband'. In a 2011 blogpost, she wrote about different options of killing one's husband and not being found. 'Its opening reads: “As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure. After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail. And let me say clearly for the record, I don’t like jumpsuits and orange isn’t my color,"' reports The Guardian.
In the blogpost, she also wrote in detail the motives behind killing one's spouse and the possible methods for not being caught! 'Knives were “personal and close up. Blood everywhere”, while poison, “considered a woman’s weapon”, was too easy to trace, Crampton Brophy wrote. Guns were “loud, messy, require some skill,”' reads The Guardian's report.
It's noted that Christopher Ramras, Circuit Judge, had excluded the blogpost from being considered for the trial against the writer on the basis of it being published many years ago. Even the jurors weren't allowed to consider it.
The prosecutors said the writer had been struggling financially before she shot her husband twice through the heart in 2018 at a culinary institute where he worked.
Nancy Crampton Brophy had denied the charge, insisting security camera footage that put her at the scene of the crime merely showed her scouting for writerly inspiration. She also claimed a missing gun police believe was the murder weapon had been bought as part of research for a novel, and denied the thousands of dollars in life assurance she stood to gain. Her lawyers said they will appeal the second-degree murder conviction.
The writer, who faces life in prison, will be sentenced at a later date. In the blog post, she also says, "But the thing I know about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough."
(With inputs from AFP)
