By Associated Press - Tuesday, April 29, 2014

PHOENIX (AP) - Jurors who convicted an Arizona woman of fatally beating her husband with a hammer are scheduled to resume deliberations Wednesday morning.

They are deciding whether 36-year-old Marissa Devault (dehv-WAH’) should spend the rest of her life in prison or be sentenced to death.

Jurors deliberated for a few hours Tuesday afternoon. So far, they’ve spent about 2 ½ days considering punishments for Devault.



Earlier this month, Devault was convicted in the January 2009 killing of Dale Harrell.

Prosecutors say Devault killed Harrell in a failed bid to collect on a life insurance policy to repay more than $300,000 in loans from her boyfriend.

Devault says she killed Harrell in self-defense and claims he had physically and sexually abused her in the past.

Harrell died nearly a month after the attack.

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