아내를 총으로 쏴죽이고 시신 사진을 페이스북 에 올린 남성이 2급 살인 혐의로 철창신세를 지게 됐다.
미국 법원 배심원단은 2013년 8월 미국 플로리다 주 마이애미 자택에서 아내 제 니퍼 알폰소(당시 27세)를 총으로 쏴 죽여 2급 살인 혐의로 기소된 데릭 메디나(33) 에게 유죄 평결을 내렸다고 AP통신과 CBS뉴스 등이 25일(현지시간) 보도했다.
배심원단은 아울러 그에게 최소 징역 25년형에서 최대 종신형을 선고하도록 했 다.
메디나는 말다툼 끝에 딸도 있던 집 안에서 총 8발을 쏴 아내를 살해한 뒤 시신 사진을 페이스북에 올리는 만행을 저질러 '페이스북 킬러'라는 악명을 얻었다.
애초 메디나는 계획 살인에 적용되는 1급 살인 혐의로 기소됐으나 아내가 자신 을 칼로 죽이려 해 정당방위 차원에서 총을 쐈다고 주장, 무죄 평결을 받았다.
페이스북에 사진을 올린 것은 아내의 사망을 처가에 알리려는 의도였다는 궤변 을 늘어놓기도 했다.
마이애미 경찰은 우발적 살인을 다루는 2급 살인죄를 적용해 그를 재기소하는 한편 시신의 총상을 분석한 결과 8발이 모두 무릎 꿇은 상태의 알폰소를 향해 아래 로 발사됐다는 점을 밝혀냈다.
메디나의 진술에 따르면 사건 당일 두 사람은 메디나가 아내를 일찍 깨워주지 못한 것 때문에 집 2층의 침실에서 다투기 시작했다.
알폰소는 죽기 전 친구에게 "남편의 행동 때문에 폭발할 것 같다. 나를 더 신경 써줬으면 하는 것뿐"이라며 "그와 시간을 더 보내고 싶기는 하지만 내가 애걸하지는 않을 것"이라고 문자메시지를 보냈다.
집에 설치된 보안 카메라에는 두 사람이 아래층 부엌에서 계속 다투는 장면이 찍혔다.
메디나는 경찰 조사에서 "알폰소가 큰 식칼로 위협하기에 칼을 빼앗은 다음 총 을 찾으러 위층으로 올라갔다. 아내가 주먹으로 계속 덤비자 총을 쐈다"고 진술했으 나 이는 탄도학 증거와 다른 것으로 나타났다.
재판에서 메디나는 "수년간 아내의 신체적 학대에 시달렸다"고 주장했으나 검찰 은 반대로 "메디나는 아내가 떠나려 할 경우 그녀를 죽이겠다는 다짐을 하고 있었다 "는 증거를 제시했다.
또 권투선수 출신에 키 183㎝, 몸무게 91㎏의 메디나가 굳이 총을 쓰지 않고도 키 168㎝의 아내를 쉽게 제압할 수 있었을 것이라고 지적했다.
판결이 나왔을 때 메디나는 별다른 감정의 동요를 보이지 않았으며 그의 변호인 은 항소할 뜻을 밝혔다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Man convicted of killing wife; posted Facebook photo of body
A Florida man who killed his wife and posted a photo of the bloody corpse on Facebook was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder after failing to convince a jury that he shot her eight times in self-defense.
The jury verdict came in the third week of Derek Medina’s trial in the August 2013 killing of 27-year-old Jennifer Alfonso at their Miami home. Medina told police in a videotaped statement he shot his wife during an altercation in which she threatened him with a knife.
Medina, who did not testify in his own defense, admitted in the police statement taking a cellphone photo of his dead wife’s body and uploading it on Facebook, along with a posting that said he expected to go to prison but was forced to kill her following years of physical abuse.
Prosecutors put on evidence indicating that Medina had vowed to kill Alfonso if she tried to leave him, which she told friends she planned to do. They also pointed out that at 6 feet (1.83 meters) and about 200 pounds (91 kilograms), Medina could have easily overpowered his 5-foot-6 wife (1.68 meters) without shooting her.
Alfonso’s mother, Carolyn Knox, burst into tears when the verdict was read after about six hours of jury deliberation over two days. She declined comment to reporters. Medina’s father, also named Derek Medina, would not comment.
Medina showed absolutely no emotion as he was handcuffed and led back to jail, where he has been held since the killing. His attorney, Saam Zangeneh, said there will be an appeal.
The second-degree murder conviction means that Medina, 33, faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
“No family should ever have to see their daughter killed and then exhibited worldwide on the Internet like some macabre trophy to a husband’s anger as was Jennifer Alfonso,” Rundle said.
Trial testimony showed the couple began fighting in their upstairs bedroom because Medina had failed to wake up his wife early that morning to watch a movie, as he had promised. Investigators testified that Alfonso threw mascara containers and towels at Medina, who pointed a gun at her in the bedroom but did not fire.
In a text message to a friend that morning, Alfonso said she “felt like ripping his face off” and was “about to explode” because of Medina’s actions and added she just wanted more attention.
“I just want to spend time with him but I’m not going to beg,” she wrote shortly before her death.
Later, the altercation continued in the downstairs kitchen _ some of it captured on one of the home’s interior surveillance cameras. Medina told police Alfonso pulled a large kitchen knife on him and that he was able to disarm her, then went back upstairs for the gun and shot his wife when she kept fighting with her fists.
A medical examiner, however, testified that the eight shots were all fired downward toward Alfonso and that the position of her body on the kitchen floor indicated she had been cowering on her knees when killed.
Medina was also convicted of illegally firing a weapon inside a dwelling and with child neglect because Alfonso’s 10-year-old daughter was in the home at the time of the slaying. The girl was in an upstairs bedroom and did not witness the slaying. But she was left alone for several hours while Medina went to turn himself in to police. (AP)
