Nancy Crampton Brophy, the author of a book titled “How to Murder Your Husband” has begun serving a life sentence after her conviction for murdering her husband.
Brophy began serving her sentence this Monday. She will have to wait 25 years before being able to apply for parole.
Crampton Brophy’s essay was published years before, in 2011, and detailed various methods for committing an untraceable killing and professed her desire to avoid getting caught.
Despite suggestions that the topic and content of her writing could constitute evidence in a trial about the murder of a husband, Judge Christopher Ramras excluded the essay.
During the trial, a prosecutor did allude to the essay’s themes as Crampton Brophy took to the stand.
Although the police never found the murder weapon, prosecutors argued that Crampton Brophy swapped out the barrel of the gun used in the shooting and then discarded it.
In Crampton Brophy’s defence, lawyers said her ownership of the gun parts was just part of the author’s creative process and that Brophy may have been murdered in a botched robbery.
Crampton Brophy said she was only near the culinary school by coincidence as she had parked nearby to work on her writing.
She also said she could not have been motivated by money as their financial problems at the time had been solved by cashing in a chunk of Brophy’s retirement savings plan.
After the murder, Crampton Brophy was arrested in September 2018 and has remained in custody ever since.
On hearing the verdict, she displayed no visible reaction.
