The author of an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband.
Nancy Crampton-Brophy on Monday was ordered to spend the rest of her days behind bars in connection with the slaying of her husband Daniel Brophy, KOIN reported. He was shot on June 2, 2018 inside the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland, where he worked as a cooking teacher.
Prosecutors said the 63-year-old chef was fatally struck while he prepped for his workday, once in the back and then again in the chest at close range.
Crampton-Brophy, a self-published romance novelist, and her husband were drowning in debt a the time of his death.
Prosecutors argued during the murder trial that she was motivated by their money problems as well as Brophy’s $1 million life insurance policy. They said she followed her husband to work and then shot him with a Glock handgun in a bid to collect on the hefty insurance payout.
Attorneys for the aspiring writer meanwhile argued that she was more financially stable with her husband alive. They also suggested the fact that her car was near the crime scene was nothing more than a coincidence, CNN reported.
In May, Crampton-Brophy was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with her husband’s death.
Despite several attempts to break into the romantic writing world, Crampton-Brophy is perhaps best known for an essay she penned in 2011, “How To Murder Your Husband.” The narrator mulls the pros and cons of ending her lover’s life, but ultimately opts against taking the final fatal step.
“Divorce is expensive, and do you really want to split your possessions?” it reads “Or if you married for money, aren’t you entitled to all of it? The drawback is the police aren’t stupid. They are looking at you first. So you have to be organized, ruthless and very clever.”
The blog post, shared on “See Jane Publish,” concludes: “It is easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them.”
“I don’t want to worry about blood and brains splattered on my walls,” she wrote in her piece. “And really, I’m not good at remembering lies. But the thing I know about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough.”
According to KPTV, the judge excluded the essay from use as evidence in the trial.
SOURCE: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS