Pamela Phillips, a once-prominent socialite was found guilty Tuesday in the 1996 Tucson car bomb killing of her ex-husband after spending years abroad living a lavish lifestyle across Europe, according to UPI.com.
Phillips, 56, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after less than three days of deliberations that began last week and now faces life in prison at her May 22 sentencing hearing, UPI.com reported.
Phillips' lawyers told jurors their client had nothing to gain from the death of businessman Gary Triano and that she was the victim of overzealous authorities who failed to follow other leads during the beginning of the trial in February, according to UPI.com.
Prosecutors described Phillips as a gold digger who hired a former boyfriend to kill Triano to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy in order to maintain her extravagant taste for the good life, UPI.com reported.
It's been nearly two decades since Triano died when his car exploded as he was leaving a Tucson-area country club after playing golf, according to UPI.com. Authorities said Phillips paid ex-boyfriend Ronald Young $400,000 to carry out the hit.
Young was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to two life terms in prison, but jurors weren't allowed to consider his case while determining Phillips' fate, UPI.com reported.
The state's case against her hinged largely on the purported secret arrangement between Phillips and Young, who the defendant dated while working as a real estate broker in Aspen, Colorado, after she divorced Triano, according to UPI.com.
During the trial, in addition to witnesses, prosecutors used financial records and telephone conversations that Young secretly recorded during talks with Phillips, UPI.com reported. In one recording, Young appears to grow angry over not receiving his payments, telling Phillips, "You're going to be in a woman's prison for murder."
The investigation into Triano's killing stalled until Young's arrest in 2005 in Florida on the fraud charges, according to UPI.com. That's when both Phillips and Young became the key suspects in the killing.
Authorities say he kept detailed records of his financial transactions with Phillips, including recorded telephone conversations and invoices, UPI.com reported. Prosecutors said police also found divorce records pertaining to Phillips and Triano in a van rented by Young.
She was arrested in Austria in 2009 and extradited to Tucson, according to UPI.com. Her case was delayed after a judge ruled she was mentally unfit to stand trial at the time.
