Fla. "Facebook Killer" found guilty of 2nd degree murder
MIAMI --A South Florida man who posted a picture of his wife's corpse on Facebook was found guilty of second-degree murder, child neglect and a weapon charge on Wednesday.
Derek Medina, 33, had been charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Jennifer Alfonso.
The second-degree guilty verdict carries a sentence of 25 years-to-life in prison.
Medina had argued that he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot his wife eight times during an argument and then posted a photo of her dead body on Facebook in August 2013.
The jury got the case after more than two weeks of testimony, although Medina did not take the stand himself. Medina did claim in a 28-minute videotaped police statement played in court that he shot Alfonso, 27, after years of abuse and during an argument in which she assaulted him with a knife.
The jury deliberated a total of about six hours Tuesday and Wednesday.
Prosecutor Leah Klein said in her closing argument that Medina coldly shot his wife at close range as she likely was cowering on her knees rather than punching and shoving him as he claimed. Medina had time, Klein said, to think things over after he walked upstairs in their town house to get his gun, and before he returned to the kitchen to fire the fatal bullets.
"He knew exactly what he was going to do when he went down those stairs. He was angry and he wanted her dead," Klein said. "He planned to execute Jen, and he executed his plan."
In addition to second-degree murder, Medina was convicted of illegal discharge of a firearm inside a building and with child neglect, because Alfonso's 10-year-old daughter was in an upstairs bedroom when her mother was killed. The girl did not witness her mother's death.
Defense attorneys were prevented by Circuit Judge Yvonne Colodny from introducing several pieces of evidence, including that Alfonso abused drugs and expert testimony that Medina was a victim of "battered spouse syndrome" at his wife's hands.