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'An essay titled 'How to Murder Your Husband' - written by a woman who is now on trial for doing just that - cannot be shown to the jury, a judge ruled this week. <br>Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, appeared in court on Monday for opening statements in her trial for the murder of her husband of 21 years. <br>She is accused of shooting dead her 63-year-old husband Daniel Brophy, a chef, in June 2018. <br>During the first day of testimony Tuesaday, the court also heard evidence that she spent time at a gun range before allegedly killing her husband for his life insurance policy.<br>But before the jury entered the room, Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras ruled prosecutors cannot introduce as evidence an essay titled 'How to Murder Your Husband' that Crampton Brophy wrote in 2011 while applying to a writer's group.<br>Ramras deemed the post too old to be relevant - and said that any value it may provide the trial is outweighed by the prejudice it may spark.<br>'As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure,' Crampton Brophy wrote in the essay.<br>'After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don't want to spend any time in jail.<br><br>And let me say clearly for the record, I don't like jumpsuits and orange isn't my color.' <br> Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, is pictured in court on Tuesday - the second day of her trial on allegations of murdering her husband [https://www.content-spinning.fr/ redactrice] in 2018<br> Daniel Brophy, a 63-year-old chef, was shot dead in June 2018 in the Portland teaching kitchen where he worked<br> Crampton Brophy in 2011 wrote an essay for a writers forum entitled 'How to Murder Your Husband'.<br><br>On Monday the judge ruled it was inadmissible, because it was likely to prejudice the jury <br> RELATED ARTICLES <br><br><br><br>Share this article<br>Share<br><br><br>The essay also weighed valid motives for murder, including infidelity and the costs of a divorce, and methods; knives are 'really personal' while guns are 'loud, messy (and) require some skill.'<br>Ramras ruled that 'any minimal probative value of an article written that long ago is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of the issues.'<br>Crampton Brophy also wrote in an online biography about the struggles of being married to a chef.<br>'As a result there are chickens and turkeys in my backyard, a fabulous vegetable garden which also grows tobacco for an insecticide and a hot meal on the table every night,' she wrote.<br>'For those of you who have longed for this, let me caution you.<br><br>The old adage is true. Be careful what you wish for, when the gods are truly angry, they grant us our wishes.'<br> Defense attorney Lisa Maxfield presents her opening statement on Monday, as Crampton Brophy (far left) [https://www.travelwitheaseblog.com/?s=listens listens] intently<br> Campbell Brophy is pictured in court on Monday with her attorneys<br> Shawn Overstreet, prosecuting, is pictured on Monday with a map of the area surrounding the crime scene<br>Brophy was killed in a teaching kitchen at the [https://www.shewrites.com/search?q=Oregon%20Culinary Oregon Culinary] Institute in southwest Portland, where he had worked since 2006.<br>Crampton Brophy was caught on camera half an hour before his death driving to the culinary institute.<br>Twenty minutes later, she drove away and went home to Beavertown.<br>On Monday, prosecutors said that Crampton Brophy was motivated by his $1.4 million life insurance policy, and played an audio recording to the court of her asking a detective four days later to write a letter specifically exonerating her in her husband's death so she could collect the life insurance policy.<br>She claimed the policy was worth $40,000, but investigators said she tried to claim 10 different policies that totaled $1.4 million, as well as a worker's comp plan because he was killed on the job.<br>'Nancy Brophy was maintaining all those life insurance policies while continuing down a path of financial ruin,' said Shawn Overstreet, Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney.<br>'Well over a thousand dollars a month was being paid into these policies at a time when they were struggling to pay their mortgage.'<br> Crampton Brophy is pictured at the time of her arrest in September 2018<br> Crampton Brophy wrote and self-published romance novels which did not sell well<br>He said that despite Crampton Brophy and Brophy celebrating a large wedding in 1997, they did not actually legally wed until shortly before he was murdered.<br>The kitchen showed no signs of a break-in, and Brophy's wallet and phone were on him at the time of death.<br>No suspects were ever identified except for Crampton Brophy, who was arrested in September 2018 and pleaded not guilty to the crime.<br>The court heard how she had bought a 'ghost gun' assembly kit online on Christmas Eve 2017, which Brophy himself signed for when it was delivered in January 2018, and his wife was traveling for work.<br>Unable to put the gun together, Nancy bought another gun at a Portland gun show in February 2018 and, a month later, began practicing at a gun range.<br>Overstreet said Crampton Brophy used a Glock pistol she bought at the gun show to shoot her husband, then swapped out the gun's barrel with an identical mechanism, preventing forensic experts from matching the spent bullets with the original slide-racking system.<br>Lisa Maxfield, one of two defense lawyers, said Crampton Brophy bought the guns as research for her novels.<br>She also said Crampton Brophy had worked as a salesperson for a variety of insurance companies and had an incentive to buy multiple policies when she changed jobs, to demonstrate her belief in the product, and because she received a commission.<br>Maxfield told the court the 'circumstantial case' against Crampton Brophy 'begs you to cast a blind eye to the most powerful evidence of all: love.'<br>She said her client had no reason to kill her husband, and her finances deteriorated after his death.<br>'Nancy has always been thoroughly, madly, crazily in love with Dan Brophy, and she remains so to this day,' Maxfield said.<br>The trial is expected to last seven weeks. <br> Prosecutors said Crampton Brophy killed her husband of 21 years for financial gain because she was the sole beneficiary of 'numerous' insurance policies in his name <br>The novelist, whose titles include The Wrong Husband and The Wrong Cop, previously spoke about her home life in writer forums, where she said their marriage, like any other, had its 'ups and downs'.<br>The blog post, which she wrote on the site Seeing Jane in 2011, began: 'As a suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure. <br>It included five potential motives for wanting to kill your husband that were divided into the following categories;<br>'Financial: Divorce is expensive, and do you really want to split your possessions?'<br>'Lying, cheating b*****d: This is a crime of passion. In anger, you bash his head in or stab him with a kitchen knife.'<br>'Fell in love with someone else: Let's say your Church frowns on divorce.<br><br>You need to be a widow, so you won't fall out of favor with your religion.'<br>'Abuser: This one is tough. Anybody can claim abuse. What is abuse?'<br>'It's your profession: Now we're talking. You already possess both skill and knowledge.<br>'You have the moral ambiguity necessary to carry it off.'<br>She also gave the reader 'options' on what their murder weapon or technique should be.<br>She wrote: 'Guns - loud, messy, require some skill.<br><br>If it takes 10 shots for the sucker to die, either you have terrible aim or he's on drugs.<br>'Knives - really personal and up close. Blood everywhere. Eww.'<br><br>adverts.addToArray({"pos":"inread_player"})Advertisement'