PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The jury will continue to deliberate Wednesday in the murder trial of Nancy Brophy, accused of killing her husband in a methodical plot in 2018.
After listening to testimony for 26 days and closing arguments for more than a day, the jury of 12 spent the better part of Tuesday weighing the evidence presented against the 71-year-old romance novelist. They will decide whether she is guilty or not on one single charge: murder with a firearm constituting domestic violence.
A guilty verdict in the case must be unanimous among the jury. A not-guilty verdict does not need to be unanimous — it only requires 10 jurors to believe she is not guilty.
Complete KOIN coverage: The murder trial of Nancy Brophy
Judge Christopher Ramras said he would try to notify the court 30 minutes before announcing the jury’s verdict.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Kristen Winemiller told the jury that the prosecution presented an interesting theory but no hard evidence.
“The overwhelming majority of the information you have heard does not support the state’s version of facts, that that speculative theory about how the facts might fit together, that might have happened isn’t sufficient,” Winemiller said. “Instead, the evidence that you’ve been presented calls very strongly for a verdict of not guilty.”
In rebuttal, Multnomah County Deputy DA Shawn Overstreet called that absurd. He went over the tight timeline, the Brophys’ finances and repeatedly used Nancy Brophy’s own testimony against her, especially about the gun she bought.
“They had a script that they were trying to follow, a narrative that they needed you to believe and they messed it up over and over and over because it’s all lies,” Overstreet said. “Nancy is guilty of murdering her husband and it’s now up to you to to deliver the justice for Chef Dan Brophy and the rest of the Brophy family.”
KOIN 6 News will have more information as it develops.