A former Las Vegas firefighter was found guilty on Thursday for plotting and executing his wife's murder by hiring an ex-convict homeless man to hide in her apartment and bludgeon her to death using a claw hammer in 2012.
George Miguel Tiaffay, 43, showed no reaction whatsoever as the verdict was being read out in the Clark County District Court while his sister Bernadette Holmes, cried softly, dabbing her face with a tissue, according to the Associated Press.
Tiaffay, a U.S. Military Academy graduate and a high school valedictorian, did not testify during his week-long trial for charges including murder and conspiracy among other charges in the murder of his wife, Shauna Tiaffay, Fox News reported.
Her murderer, Noel Stevens, a man who lived in a tent in the mountains and had a violent past, testified in front of jury members last week, saying that George had promised to pay him $5,000 to kill Shauna, according to The Las Vegas - Review Journal.
Stevens pleaded guilty in January 2013 to murder, conspiracy, burglary and robbery charges and could receive at least 21 years in a state prison at his sentencing scheduled in the coming weeks.
Shauna, a 46-year-old cocktail waitress by profession, was attacked and killed as she returned home from work at approximately 3.30 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2012. The motive behind the murder was that George wanted to keep Shauna from getting his money, the jury was told.
Judge Eric Johnson said the jury members, consisting of seven men and five women, will convene on Friday to decide upon a sentence and also determine whether or not George will ever have a chance at parole. The minimum sentence he could be facing is 21 years.
