The author of an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting her husband.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was convicted last month of murdering her husband, Daniel Brophy, in 2018.
According to KOIN-TV, the trial judge, Christopher Ramras, stated that she will be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Crampton Brophy’s sentencing featured impact comments from Daniel Brophy’s family members as well as a former culinary student whom her husband taught.
Daniel Brophy’s mother, Karen Brophy, wrote the first impact statement, saying she and her husband couldn’t believe their son’s wife had been arrested for his murder. She described Crampton Brophy as a member of the family and expressed hope that she will find God’s grace.
Clarinda Perez, an Oregon Culinary Institute student who performed CPR on Daniel Brophy after students discovered him shot on the floor of a kitchen in 2018, made the second statement.
Crampton Brophy said that her husband’s students were not as affected by her husband’s death as she was.
Perez addressed this claim in her statement.
‘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.
Bill Brophy, the dead man’s brother, also spoke up, emphasizing how much of a loss his brother’s death was to the family.
Nathaniel Stillwater, Daniel Brophy’s son, also addressed Crampton Brophy directly, 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 your life in the shadow of a great human being.’
Daniel Brophy, 63, was murdered 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 trial, prosecutors established their case by demonstrating how Crampton Brophy obtained gun parts in the months before killing her husband, and how she pocketed a sizable portion of his insurance money after his death.
Prosecutors claimed Crampton Brophy was driven by the couple’s “financial despair,” but she claimed she had no cause to murder her husband and that they had handled their financial troubles prior to the murder.
The judge removed Crampton Brophy’s ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ essay from the trial because it was written too long ago and could generate prejudice.
After Crampton Brophy took the testimony, prosecutors continued to refer to the essay’s contents without mentioning it. She was arrested in September 2018 and has been in prison since then.