Jury finds nurse Melanie McGuire guilty of husband's murder!
A jury convicted a well-respected fertility clinic nurse Monday of the 2004 murder of her husband, whose dismembered remains were stuffed in the couple's set of luggage and thrown in the Chesapeake Bay.
In addition to charges of first-degree murder and desecrating human remains, the panel found Melanie McGuire, 34, guilty of perjury for lying to a family court judge about her husband's whereabouts after he disappeared. They also convicted her of unlawful possession of a weapon.
McGuire was acquitted, however, of four charges related to anonymous letters mailed to authorities in an alleged attempt to throw suspicion onto others.
She faces 30 years to life in prison on the murder charge alone when she is sentenced July 13. Her bond was immediately revoked after the verdict.
The verdict came after more than 13 hours of deliberation by the nine-woman, three-man panel. The jurors had listened to 76 witnesses and reviewed over 1,200 exhibits during the course of the seven-week trial.
McGuire, who entered the courtroom visibly upset, burst into tears and clutched her attorney immediately after the jury foreman pronounced the word "guilty" on the first count. One female juror dabbed at tears with a tissue as the verdict was read.
In the courtroom gallery, William McGuire's relatives smiled and held hands as the remainder of the eight-count verdict was announced.
At a post-verdict press conference, William McGuire's sister, Cindy Ligosh, said the verdict was bittersweet for her family, especially her brother's two children.
"Today is a very happy day for us," said Ligosh, who noted that Sunday would be the three-year anniversary of her brother's death. "At the same time, it's a very sad day because Melanie has left two children without a father or a mother."
Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso echoed Ligosh's sentiments, while expressing relief with the verdict.
Prosecutors alleged McGuire killed the victim, her husband of five years, because she feared a divorce would be expensive and her husband would battle her for custody of the children.
William McGuire, 39, a computer analyst, was last seen alive April 28, 2004, when he and the defendant closed on their first home. In her closing argument, a prosecutor theorized that Melanie McGuire served her husband a celebratory glass of wine laced with sedatives that night and then shot him to death the next day after taking her children to preschool.
McGuire had been carrying on an affair with her married boss at the fertility clinic, Dr. Bradley Miller, for two years.
Miller testified that they eventually planned to leave their spouses and marry each other.
But lawyers for McGuire dismissed the state's case as circumstantial at best and argued that there was nothing connecting their client to her husband's death.
In a press conference, McGuire's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he was "very disappointed" with the verdict, and that he was looking forward to a "resolution" in the case.
"Sentencing will not be the resolution of this case," he said.
In addition to charges of first-degree murder and desecrating human remains, the panel found Melanie McGuire, 34, guilty of perjury for lying to a family court judge about her husband's whereabouts after he disappeared. They also convicted her of unlawful possession of a weapon.
McGuire was acquitted, however, of four charges related to anonymous letters mailed to authorities in an alleged attempt to throw suspicion onto others.
She faces 30 years to life in prison on the murder charge alone when she is sentenced July 13. Her bond was immediately revoked after the verdict.
The verdict came after more than 13 hours of deliberation by the nine-woman, three-man panel. The jurors had listened to 76 witnesses and reviewed over 1,200 exhibits during the course of the seven-week trial.
McGuire, who entered the courtroom visibly upset, burst into tears and clutched her attorney immediately after the jury foreman pronounced the word "guilty" on the first count. One female juror dabbed at tears with a tissue as the verdict was read.
In the courtroom gallery, William McGuire's relatives smiled and held hands as the remainder of the eight-count verdict was announced.
At a post-verdict press conference, William McGuire's sister, Cindy Ligosh, said the verdict was bittersweet for her family, especially her brother's two children.
"Today is a very happy day for us," said Ligosh, who noted that Sunday would be the three-year anniversary of her brother's death. "At the same time, it's a very sad day because Melanie has left two children without a father or a mother."
Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso echoed Ligosh's sentiments, while expressing relief with the verdict.
Prosecutors alleged McGuire killed the victim, her husband of five years, because she feared a divorce would be expensive and her husband would battle her for custody of the children.
William McGuire, 39, a computer analyst, was last seen alive April 28, 2004, when he and the defendant closed on their first home. In her closing argument, a prosecutor theorized that Melanie McGuire served her husband a celebratory glass of wine laced with sedatives that night and then shot him to death the next day after taking her children to preschool.
McGuire had been carrying on an affair with her married boss at the fertility clinic, Dr. Bradley Miller, for two years.
Miller testified that they eventually planned to leave their spouses and marry each other.
But lawyers for McGuire dismissed the state's case as circumstantial at best and argued that there was nothing connecting their client to her husband's death.
In a press conference, McGuire's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he was "very disappointed" with the verdict, and that he was looking forward to a "resolution" in the case.
"Sentencing will not be the resolution of this case," he said.
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YES!! I'm SOOOOOOOOO happy she got proved guilty! I've been reading about this case for a long while now. My mouth just dropped after reading this. I feel really bad for her corpse husband's family. Who would do that!?! She had no right to do that aka cut him to shreads... but still, she could've just talked to her husband about the divorce and who's getting the kids or whatever. But that was really mean what she did to him, as in she's been having and affair for 2 years! jeesh! yea well tell me what you think about this.
