The author of an essay titled ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ has been sentenced to life in prison in the fatal shooting of her husband.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was convicted last month in the 2018 killing of her husband, Daniel Brophy.
Judge Christopher Ramras, who presided over the trial, said that she would be considered for parole after 25 years, KOIN-TV reported.
Crampton Brophy’s sentencing included impact statements from Daniel Brophy’s family members as well as a former culinary student who was taught by her husband.
The first impact statement was written by Daniel Brophy’s mother, Karen Brophy, who said she and her husband couldn’t believe their son’s wife was arrested for his murder. She said Crampton Brophy had been part of the family and that she hopes she finds God’s grace.
The second statement was from Clarinda Perez, the Oregon Culinary Institute student who performed CPR on Daniel Brophy after students found him after he was shot, laying on the floor of a kitchen in 2018.
When Crampton Brophy had testified she made comments that her husband’s students were not as impacted by her husband’s death as she was.
In her statement, Perez addressed that claim.
‘All of us were affected that day and to hear her say that we went on with our lives and that nothing happened, that we weren’t affected is a true statement and a reflection of what a cold-blooded murderer she is,’ Perez said.
The slain man’s brother Bill Brophy also gave a statement emphasizing what a loss his brother’s death was to the family.
Daniel Brophy’s son Nathaniel Stillwater also spoke directly to Crampton Brophy, saying, ‘You are a monster and I’m ashamed that I have to admit to my children that people like you walk among us undetected. You lived in the shadow of a great human being.’
Daniel Brophy was 63 when he was killed as he prepared for work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland where he worked as a chef and cooking instructor.
During the seven-week proceedings prosecutors built their case showing how Crampton Brophy had acquired gun pieces in the months before killing her husband, and how following his death collected a generous amount of his insurance money.
Prosecutors argued that Crampton Brophy was motivated by the couple’s ‘financial despair,’ while she argued that she had no reason to kill her husband, and that they had settled their financial issues earlier.
Crampton Brophy’s ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ essay was excluded from the trial by the judge, who said it was written too long ago and could cause prejudice.
Prosecutors still alluded to the essay’s themes without naming it after Crampton Brophy took the stand. She was arrested in September 2018 and has been in jail ever since.
