WARREN, Ohio (AP) - A federal appellate court has upheld the murder conviction of a woman who killed her husband in Ohio and then fled to her native Brazil in 2007.
The 11th District Court of Appeals issued its decision Monday, rejecting five arguments raised by Claudia Hoerig. She was convicted in January 2019 of aggravated murder and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 28 years.
Arguments raised by Hoerig’s lawyers included claims that Trumbull County prosecutors made improper remarks during opening statements and that there wasn’t enough evidence presented for a jury to fairly find her guilty.
Hoerig was returned to the U.S. in January 2018 after Brazil’s Supreme Court revoked her citizenship. She came back to Ohio to face charges that she shot 43-year-old Karl Hoerig, an Air Force Reserve member, at their Newton Falls home in 2007.
Hoerig acknowledged killing him, but has said it wasn’t premeditated and that she had been abused.
Jurors were told Hoerig bought a laser sight for her handgun before the shooting.
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