A California woman has been convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of her stepfather -- a crime she committed because she found nude photos of herself on his computer.
Solana Beach resident Jade Janks, 39, learned of her fate in a San Diego courtroom this week, nearly two years after she allegedly drugged, suffocated and choked 64-year-old Thomas Merriman to death.
Although throughout the trial, Janks insisted Merriman died from poor health and chronic drug abuse, prosecutors showed the jury several text message she had written to a friend about his death, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Among the texts:
"I just dosed the hell out of him."
"He's waking up. I really don't want to be the one to do this."
"I can't carry him alone and I can’t keep a kicking body in my trunk."
"I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up."
Janks appeared to be in stunned disbelief when the guilty verdict was returned, NBC News reported.
"The reason why Jade went to trial was she believed she was not guilty of this thing, and that's been her position through the whole case," Defense lawyer Marc Carlos told NBC.
Merriman's official cause of death was listed as an overdose of prescription sleep medication.
Janks testified during the week-long trial, saying she discovered the cache of nude photos on Merriman's computer while she was cleaning his house, KFMB reported.
"It was the most violating, awful, gut-wrenching feeling ever. I felt sick, I felt I couldn't... even touch my own skin. I don't know if there [are] words, not even in a movie have I seen something so sick," she said.
Her attorney argued that some of the photos date back to when Janks was a teenager, taken while she was in the shower and during other instances, and that the pictures were organized in folders by body part.
Janks is facing 25 years to life when she's sentenced on April 3rd.
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