STATESVILLE, N.C. — A Mooresville woman convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the death of her Concord police officer husband will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Judge Kimberly Taylor sentenced Misty Keller Witherspoon, 33, to life without parole after the jury reached its verdict in Iredell County Superior Court.
Witherspoon looked down at the table where she sat as the jurors were polled one by one, confirming their decision of guilt. Her family members and members of her husband’s family huddled together crying after learning of the verdict.
Concurrent with her life sentence, Witherspoon will serve time for financial crimes, including embezzling $27,720 from her Mooresville church and fraudulently obtaining credit cards in her sister’s name. In April, she pleaded guilty to 37 counts of embezzlement and three counts of financial identity theft.
“The defendant’s repeated egregious conduct ultimately led to murder,” Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin said after the verdict.
Misty Witherspoon shot her husband as he lay sleeping on their couch on Sept. 13, 2005, because she was afraid to tell her husband how she had squandered their money, Martin said.
Since Quinn Witherspoon’s death, his family has publicly supported Misty Witherspoon and said they believed she didn’t mean to kill him. They did not support her prosecution for the death, according to Martin.
During the trial, prosecutors said Witherspoon planned to use her husband’s life insurance money to pay off debts.
Her attorney, Andrew Jennings, said Witherspoon became overwhelmed after the calls from creditors and contemplated taking her own life, not her husband’s. At trial, Jennings said the gun accidentally discharged near Quinn Witherspoon’s head in a suicide attempt gone wrong.
Jennings said that he was “greatly disappointed” by the decision and that he didn’t believe there was strong evidence of premeditation on Misty Witherspoon’s part.
Copyright 2007 The Charlotte Observer