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Julie Harper

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Submitted By yummi76
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Wife not guilty of first-degree murder
Julie Harper, a mother of three who shot and killed her husband was found not guilty of first degree murder. The jury deadlocked on the lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter, so the judge declared a mistrial. Not clear yet what the prosecutor is planning to do in this case in the future.
On Augustus 7, 2012 Julie Harper shot and killed her husband while her three kids were downstairs. Her husband, Jason Harper (39) was a math teacher and coach for the volleyball team at the Carlsbad High School. According to her, she informed her husband that she had filed for divorce and hired an attorney, and then they had a loud argument and struggled. During that time her husband, Jason tried to sexually assault her, and she claims the shooting was self defense. After the shooting her actions are really questionable. First she took the kids out for breakfast then tried to find play dates for them, and finally hid the gun instead of calling the police. Sixteen hours later she turned herself in to the police station. Less than a day after alleged shooting police found her husband’s body in the couple’s Carlsbad home.
Before Julie Harper shot her husband, she never reported sexual, verbal or mental abuse. There is no physical evidence for her claim, nor did the family hear any violence in the couple’s relationship. However according to Homer Harper, Jason’s father “You could tell the marriage was coming apart”. Mrs. Harper never spoke of the abuse of her to anyone until the shooting, and during the court trial she testified that she acted self defense, after Jason attacked her and threatened to kill her in their home.
During the trial the prosecutor mostly focused on Julie Harper’s behavior after the killing especially hiding a gun which had disappeared from the location where she hid it. The defense attorney provided 3 pieces of evidence to proof of the physical abuse. They provided a cellphone recording where Jason was yelling at his wife about spending money on day care while she is a stay-at-home mom. During another argument in November, 2011 when Carlsbad police were involved; they asked the husband to leave the premises to cool off. Julie Harper also kept a journal where under the word “sex” she meant sexual abuse. After Julie Harper testified some juror believed her some didn’t. Defense attorney Paul Pfingst said about the evidence of abuse “It’s not fair to say that it was only (testimony from) Julie” referring to the cellphone recording and Julie’s journal. The couple’s son also testified that Jason Harper was yelling before he was shot.
David Steinberg, a professor at San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law said “In a murder case, you often only have two witnesses to the event and one of them is dead. It comes down to whether the jury is willing to believe the defendant.” And this is what happened in this case, last week the Vista Superior jury acquitted Julie Harper from the first-degree murder, but they were not able to reach the verdicts on second-degree murder or manslaughter.

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