Posted Friday, Dec. 18, 2009
BY NATHANIEL JONES AND MARTHA DELLER
njones@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH — A 31-year-old woman was convicted of murder Friday in the shooting death of her husband three years ago after he broke into her second-floor apartment.
A Tarrant County jury deliberated for about 15 hours over two days before finding Jennifer Brinkman guilty.
She admitted shooting Brian Brinkman, 32, on Dec. 30, 2006, but said she acted in self-defense. The guilty verdict means that the jury believed that she killed him intentionally.
The eight men and four women deliberated for about nine hours Thursday, then were sequestered overnight at a Fort Worth hotel.
After deliberations resumed Friday morning, jurors sent a message to state District Judge Louis Sturns that they were at an impasse, prosecutor Sean Colston said.
After asking for and reviewing the evidence, the jury came to a decision about 4 p.m.
"We’re pleased with the verdict," said Colston, who tried the case with Michelle Dobson.
When the verdict was read, Brinkman’s attorney, Mark Daniel, comforted her as she slumped in her chair with her head bowed.
Throughout the two-week trial, Daniel portrayed his client as the victim of a violent, sadistic drug addict
Many of Brinkman’s 30 relatives and friends cried. One supporter ran from the courtroom.
Brinkman’s father, Mike Penninger, declined to comment as he and other family members left the courthouse. Penninger testified during that trial that his son-in-law beat him twice, once so severely that he was hospitalized with 80 stitches.
Jennifer Brinkman hugged her 7-year-old twins, Lexie and Lance, for about five minutes before she was taken to the Tarrant County Jail. She had been free on bail.
The punishment phase of the trial is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday in the 213th District Court.
"We are certainly disappointed," Daniel said. "The jury obviously worked hard. We intend to be fully prepared for the second phase of the trial."
The maximum sentence for a murder conviction is life in prison. But Brinkman is eligible for probation. Judges are required to follow the jury’s sentencing recommendation. But they are allowed to order the defendant to serve up to 180 days in jail as a condition of probation.
What his relatives said
About 10 of Brian Brinkman’s relatives were in the courtroom Friday but declined to comment. An aunt, Lynda Schraub, testified that she had never witnessed the violent acts that Brinkman and her relatives said Brian had committed. She said he was a kind, loving, generous man whom she trusted with her own grandchildren.
Brian Brinkman was killed by a bullet that entered just below his right eye, shattering his jaw and entering the cranial area, causing brain damage, a deputy medical examiner testified.
A firearms expert estimated that he was shot from a distance of about 6 inches and no more than 12 inches.
Daniel said the short range showed that Brian was nearly on top of Jennifer when she shot him. She testified that Brian was in a methamphetamine-induced rage when she reached into a backpack, got a gun her father had given her for protection and closed her eyes as she shot him.
Jennifer said that because of his previous violent actions, including her father’s beatings, she feared that Brian would beat her to death if she didn’t stop him.
But several Fort Worth police officers said her story didn’t make sense because her versions of what happened changed multiple times — from the initial 911 call reporting the shooting to a May 2007 interview with a homicide detective.
Police had initially considered Jennifer a burglary victim because she said Brian pried open the patio doors of her apartment the day of the shooting. But Detective Jose Hernandez said her inconsistent statements plus a 30-minute recording that Brian made on his cellphone during their argument led him to seek the murder charge about six months later.
That recording and information about the murder weapon were among the items that jurors asked to see during deliberations.
NATHANIEL JONES, 817-390-7742 MARTHA DELLER, 817-390-7857
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