After five hours of deliberations, a Fort Collins jury found Shawna Nelson guilty today of killing her lover’s wife in January 2007.
She was sentenced to life in prison without parole after the first-degree murder conviction.
Heather Garraus was shot execution-style outside the Greeley credit union where she worked by an assailant wearing a black mask and a long black robe.
Nelson had an on-again, off-again affair with Garraus’ husband, Ignacio, and the two conceived a child together.
Judge Roger Klien told Nelson: “You killed Heather Garraus. You carried this out with great planning and deliberation.” He told Nelson that she deserved to serve the sentence he imposed.
Debbie Smith, Nelson’s sister, said she blamed the Greeley Police Department and the media for Nelson’s conviction.
“To me, Shawna was arrested, tried and convicted in the first 15 minutes of this horrible thing. ”
Ignacio Garraus declined to comment.
Monica Cordova, a friend of Heather Garraus, said: “We are glad it’s over. (The jury) did the right thing.”
Last week, after testifying for nearly three hours, Nelson denied the allegations.
But prosecutors claimed she gunned down Heather Garraus because Nelson wanted Ignacio Garraus, a former Greeley police officer, all to herself.
Witnesses said she despised his wife. Nelson’s best friend, Michelle Moore, told the jury how she and Nelson had talked about how to kill a person and not leave evidence at the scene.
A DNA analyst from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Yvonne Woods, testified that Nelson’s DNA was found on shoes discovered near the scene of the shooting. Other female DNA also was on the shoes, Woods told jurors.
The CBI’s Alex Rugh said Nelson’s right hand and face tested positive for gunshot residue.
However, the mask found in Nelson’s truck and a left shoe found near the murder scene did not test positive for residue, Rugh said.
