‘How to Kill Your Husband’ Author Nancy Crampton Brophy Says ‘Love’ Proves Her Innocence

The Portland romance novel’s attorneys accused of murdering her chef husband got their first chance Monday to present the defense since she was arrested and charged with killing him more than three last year.

The heart of that protection: love. Nancy Crampton Brophy can’t kill Oregon Culinary Institute chef Daniel Brophy, attorney Lisa Mayfield argued in a Multnomah County courtroom, because she loves him, and him.

“The state is going to bring up an episodic case that requires you to turn a blind eye to the most important situation,” Mayfield said, telling jurors that Nancy would take a stand and speak for herself later in the trial. “

Which situation is that? Love and cherish. Nancy Brophy was very grateful. She has an adventurous, life-loving, playful husband and she knows that’s a rare gift.”

Monday was the first day of a seven-week trial into the death of Brophy, shot June 2, 2018, shortly after he arrived at a school in downtown Portland, where He works as a chef and guide. Crampton Brophy’s arrest made headlines nationally after she wrote a 2011 post titled “How to Kill Your Husband.”

Before the jury of 7 men and 12 women entered the courtroom, Judge Christopher A. Ramras threw out that wonderful piece of text. “Any value in that is significantly outweighed by the danger of a long-written article about unfair prejudice and confusion about the issues,” Judge Ramras said. Judge Ramras said, before the trial began.

That left Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet without a single compelling piece of circumstantial evidence in a case based largely on circumstantial evidence: that Crampton Brophy had researched gun kits the month before the shooting; that the couple is in financial trouble; that the writer took out no less than 10 different life insurance policies in her husband’s name that would cost her more than $1 million upon his untimely death; that even as the couple struggled to pay the mortgage on their suburban Portland home, they still had to pay more than $1,000 in monthly insurance to maintain those policies; That surveillance footage shows her driving her pickup truck to and from the area of ​​the shooting, just before and after Daniel Brophy took his last breath.

“She executed what she probably believed was the perfect plan to end the life of beloved chef Daniel Brophy,” Overstreet said.

That surveillance footage contradicts what Crampton Brophy told police when they interviewed her at the crime scene: that she went back to sleep after her husband left for work that morning and stayed in bed until First time driving to the crime scene a few hours. after shooting. In a later phone call, Crampton Brophy asked a Portland Police detective if he could produce a letter confirming her as a suspect in the murder? One of the life insurance companies she was looking for the payment needed, to process her claim.

While the state did not rely heavily on the defendant’s writing, the defense did. After telling a tortuous story about how Crampton Brophy discovered she needed eye surgery and then wrote a letter to her husband detailing what to do if she didn’t make it, Mayfield displays text messages between husband and wife that represent a happy marriage. Mayfield explains that many of the policies in Dan Brophy’s life were the product of Crampton Brophy’s smart retirement planning and fervent belief in life insurance needs. Mayfield argued that the policies were proof that Crampton Brophy was betting on her husband’s longevity and not his death, as one of the more expensive policies paid back all premiums. if he lived to 78. And Mayfield assumed that the difficulties in collecting policies after Dan Brophy was murdered meant that it was not in Crampton Brophy’s interest to kill him.

“Murder can be a major complication when it comes to life insurance,” says Mayfield.

Mayfield admitted there were “cash flow” problems in the year leading up to the shooting, but said the Brophies plan to split their property and sell off a portion of it, saying the money came from Crampton Brophy’s work selling the assets. Medicare policies, and they both dream of spending less time working. As for Crampton Brophy’s statement to police on the morning of the shooting, that she was in bed, Mayfield said she plans to present testimony from psychiatrists that the trauma of knowing recently murdered husband can have an adverse effect on his wife’s memory. “Knowing that her husband had been murdered was one of the biggest shocks. A chemical spill into the brain disrupts neural coding, and that chemical disruption can leave large memory holes,” says Mayfield.

As for guns and gun parts that Crampton Brophy researched and purchased at a gun show and online, Mayfield offers a couple of explanations: that Crampton Brophy is working on a book about a woman turned the script upside down of an abusive partner by killing him with a gun assembled from pieces bought online, which the author needed to practice assembling and disassembling a gun. “Nancy Brophy always had a few stories alive in her head,” Mayfield said. Another reason Mayfield gave for buying a gun: Crampton Brophy and her husband were both concerned about the rise of mass shootings across the US in 2017. A gun that appeared to be well protected. .

Mayfield didn’t mention when he opened surveillance footage showing Crampton Brophy driving toward the crime scene shortly before the shooting and leaving a few minutes later.

Dan and Nancy Brophy met while she was a student at the Culinary Academy, said Overstreet, the district attorney, and “after sufficient persuasion by Miss Crampton, the two married in 1999.” They bought a house that year and lived in it until Dan died. The couple have no children in common. Nancy works as a caterer and sells life insurance to earn money, something her job writing romance novels can’t do. Dan is the main instructor at the school, while Nancy is the “manager” of the household. By 2016, they were struggling to pay their mortgage, but Crampton Brophy still managed to find $1,500 to spend on guns and gun parts, and $1,000 on monthly life insurance premiums. “Nancy began researching and planning to kill Dan Brophy,” Overstreet said.

Overstreet said she wasn’t able to assemble the parts for the ghost gun she bought online, so she instead bought another slide and barrel to match the Glock she and Daniel bought at a gun show in Portland. Twice, she went to a shooting range on her way to the coast, where the prosecutor said she likely practiced using a gun. Overstreet said swapping the slide and barrel would make it impossible for forensic investigators to match it to an artillery shell found at the murder scene. Slides and Crampton Brophy crates purchased online were never recovered. “Nancy had everything it took to commit and conceal this murder,” Overstreet said.

After the shooting, Nancy’s neighbors told detectives “she seemed distressed, a bit frantic,” Overstreet said. “Nancy claims she was looking for her dogs that got out. The neighbor didn’t see any dogs.”

When detectives told Nancy her husband was dead, she replied, “Yes, I get it, when people look at me with sad looks,” according to an audio recording of that conversation that was played in court.

Then Crampton Brophy called one of the police detectives: “I don’t want to be the stupid question of the day, but I think I need to be the dumb question of the day,” she said in an audio recording. issued before the court. “My insurance company says just have the detective write a letter saying you’re no longer a suspect.”

“Why do you need that?” asked the detective.

Crampton Brophy replied, “Because they don’t want to pay if I secretly go down to the shooting range and shoot my husband, like I think going into old age without a husband is what I’m looking for.”

The police denied her request: “We would never do something like this.”