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Nancy Brophy murder trial starts | Day 1, morning — Transcript

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0:001777
0:02and lisa maxfield here for ms brophy my
0:04bar number is 844-337
0:06my last name is spelled m-a-x-f-i-e-l-d
0:10all right give me just one moment to get
0:14uh set up here and we'll get underway
0:43what's up
1:37having a little bit of difficulty here
1:39this may take just a second
1:56yeah why don't we go off the record for
1:58just a moment
2:01we're already off in just a second
2:11hmm
2:28sure
2:38just doing something odd
2:49me go yeah
4:48all right we're back on the record my
4:49apologies for the delay uh before we
4:52bring in the jury i did want to rule on
4:54a motion that i took under advisement on
4:57friday
4:58i heard several motions that day but the
5:00one that i had not ruled on concerned a
5:03blog post that the defendant wrote 11
5:06years ago called how to murder your
5:08husband
5:09and we had heard testimony
5:11that the blog post had been written for
5:13a writer's workshop
5:14now defense moved to exclude the blog
5:17post and having fully considered the
5:19matter i am going to grant the defense
5:21motion
5:22to the extent that the evidence is
5:24potentially admissible under oregon
5:26evidence code
5:274043
5:29as relevant for a non-propensity purpose
5:32to show the defendant's knowledge
5:34i don't believe it survives the
5:36balancing test the court's required to
5:38undergo under oregon evidence code 403
5:42any minimal probative value of an
5:45article written that long ago is
5:47substantially outweighed by the danger
5:49of unfair prejudice and confusion of the
5:52issues
5:53so with that unless there's anything
5:55that either side wants to put on the
5:57record we can bring the jury
5:59uh your honor i think both sides need to
6:03request to admit uh some exhibits that
6:07okay they plan to be used in opening
6:09all right
6:12does the state want to start
6:14i do your honor
6:16and i have a
6:17a longer list some of which we're
6:19planning to use in opening and some of
6:20which the parties have agreed to
6:23um
6:24would you prefer if i just go through
6:26them slowly i'll go in order they'll be
6:28found on the exhibit list that i've
6:30provided and i can give
6:33category document category headings as
6:36well if that's helpful
6:37uh i think i have a list here that
6:41shows
6:42exhibits four through
6:46a hundred and something uh
6:49so why don't we do it by just
6:50numerically all right um first the state
6:53is moving to uh introduce and offer
6:56states exhibit four titled oci opening
7:00walkthrough video all right and
7:04i guess i should ask are there any
7:05objections to these exhibits
7:08i don't believe so but i'll go slow in
7:10case there's something that we miss sure
7:13if i don't hear an objection i'll say
7:15it's admitted so
7:17exhibit four is admitted
7:21states exhibit seven
7:23video it's goose hollow video one
7:28the west pedestrian crossing correct
7:31and your honor i think our agreement
7:34about those is that they can be
7:35pre-admitted but the discussion will be
7:38limited to not um specified time frame
7:40because there's some discrepancy in the
7:42time stamps and so we'll work that out
7:44during trial but the video itself is
7:46fine okay
7:47uh exhibit seven will be admitted
7:51and the next three have that same
7:53stipulation with them
7:55uh the next is states exhibit eight
7:56goose hollow video 2
7:59goose 03 westbound platform
8:02all right that'll be admitted with the
8:04same stipulation
8:06and states exhibit 9 bellagio's video
8:10cam 5 same stipulation
8:13that will be admitted
8:16and exhibit 14 affinity video back
8:20parking same stipulation
8:23okay exhibit 14 will be admitted
8:26all right and then states exhibit 23
8:29which is under subject heading 9-1-1
8:31calls and it's 9-1-1 call by kathleen
8:33dooley
8:36all right exhibit 23 will be admitted
8:39and then now i'm jumping to photographs
8:42states exhibit 28
8:44which is labeled photo of 17th and
8:47jefferson facing oci
8:49photo one
8:52all right states exhibit 28 will be
8:54admitted
8:5629
8:57same title but photo 2.
9:00exhibit 29 will be admitted
9:05uh states exhibit 32
9:07photo of oci interior
9:10kitchen one
9:1232 will be admitted
9:16photo 61
9:18uh or states at 61 excuse me photo of
9:20dan brophy's phone
9:2461 will be admitted
9:2764
9:29photo of open ghost gun kit
9:3364 will be admitted
9:3665
9:38screen capture of ghost gun website
9:4165 will be admitted
9:4566
9:47screen capture of caroline colt company
9:50ebay listing
9:5366 will be admitted
9:57jumping down to 112
10:00in photographs
10:01glock 17 gun show gun open box
10:05all right that'll be admitted as well
10:08115
10:10under photographs defendants van and
10:12driveway
10:14scratch
10:15hike and scratch okay
10:17that'll
10:18i just want to make sure i'm following
10:20when you say item scratch you are moving
10:21to admit the exhibit right yes all right
10:23115 will be that's the title of that
10:26thank you
10:28um all right then i'm jumping a category
10:30of other documents
10:33and states exhibit 70
10:35american amicable life insurance policy
10:40that'll be admitted
10:4271
10:44americo life insurance policy
10:47that'll be admitted
10:4972 fidelity guarantee insurance policy
10:54i'll be admitted
10:5673
10:59forester's financial universal life
11:01policy
11:0373 will be admitted
11:0674 life map basic group life insurance
11:09policy
11:1174 will be admitted
11:1375
11:14lincoln financial life insurance policy
11:1875 will be admitted
11:2176 mutual of omaha life insurance policy
11:2676 will be admitted
11:2977 sellers net sheet
11:3277 will be admitted
11:3784
11:39bank of america records 84 will be
11:42admitted
11:44plus 85 wells fargo bank records
11:4885 will be admitted
11:5186 on point bank records
11:5586 will be admitted
11:57i'm jumping now to category other
12:0095 which is a board map of the area
12:03surrounding oci
12:0695 will be admitted those are here in
12:08the courtroom
12:09at 96
12:11a board map of video locations
12:14a 96 will be admitted
12:1799
12:19at t cell site location records
12:2299 will be admitted
12:26102
12:27cell site 10 mile range of wolf creek
12:30range
12:32102 will be admitted
12:34and then two more under audio category
12:38stage exhibit 3 a
12:41audio of death notification
12:433a will be admitted and 109 phone call
12:47from defendant to darren posey all right
12:49uh 109 will be admitted as well
12:52and that's all i have thank you
12:54all right and i wasn't sure
12:57uh based on that is the defense also
12:59moving to admit certain exhibits we are
13:01your honor and i believe we have
13:03agreement as to all of these um 201 is
13:07an alaris check
13:11all right 201 will be admitted and i
13:13should ask it does defense have a list
13:15of the
13:16your honor we don't um we provided all
13:19of these exhibits to them unnumbered and
13:21i'm really just assigning numbers now
13:23and we will
13:25follow up with that all right uh 202 is
13:28a photo of dan nancy and addie
13:32all right 202 will be admitted we have
13:35an agreement as to 203 which the court
13:38will recall it previously excluded the
13:40dearest dan letter
13:43oh okay so there's an agreement that
13:45that's admissible i just want to make
13:46sure that's correct okay so 203 will be
13:49admitted and just so i'm
13:51uh does 203 include the attachments to
13:53the letter yes okay
13:55all right
13:57204 is an aerial view of the brophy
14:00property a google aerial view
14:03all right that will be admitted
14:05205
14:07is a property research report
14:09essentially a title report on the
14:11property
14:12okay 205 will be admitted 206 is an
14:16excerpt from a report prepared by osp
14:19criminalist leland samuelson
14:22206 will be admitted
14:24207 is a voicemail that was found on mr
14:27brophy's telephone
14:30okay 207 will be admitted
14:32208 are
14:34a series of chat messages four
14:37excerpts from a long thread text thread
14:39between the brophies between dan brophy
14:42and mrs brophy
14:45and we've agreed to those specific
14:46excerpts
14:47okay 208 submitted
14:49uh 209 is an email
14:52that our client received shortly before
14:54her husband died it's called which is a
14:58love story was the the subject of the
15:01email
15:02209 will be admitted
15:05and then there are three uh new york
15:07times uh articles that will display to
15:10the jury but we're not really asking be
15:11pre-admitted they're just part of the
15:13opening okay they're just uh
15:15demonstrative
15:16right okay and i think that is it am i
15:19missing anything
15:21we'll find out
15:23i think that's it your honor all right
15:25and also just so everyone is aware
15:27logistically at least a couple of the
15:29jurors have expressed that they may need
15:32more frequent comfort breaks than others
15:34so i will bring that up with them but i
15:36just want to let everyone know
15:38so i think we are ready for the jury and
15:41your honor i should know we we do have a
15:43number of other stipulations that we're
15:45gonna we have memorialized and we need
15:47to get in a nice enough form that we can
15:48put in the court record but this is not
15:50the extent of our stipulation okay and
15:52you want to take that up later then i
15:54well but um ms loeb is responsible for
15:57preaching it i think so i'll let her
15:58speak to yes i think so
16:00yeah
16:02okay we'll get it in a better format i
16:04think yeah okay that's fine
16:10we're ready for the jury and then we
16:12will give them the
16:14record
16:15no it can go off the record and i want
16:17to tell you
16:19the
16:21uh courtroom those on webex we're muting
16:23the courtroom during recess and we'll be
16:24resuming in just another minute
22:19go back on the record judge
22:22everyone else can go ahead and have a
22:24seat now that you're comfortable we're
22:25actually going to have the jurors stand
22:27back up so we can give you an oath
22:34all right emma have you all please raise
22:36your right hand
22:37do each of you solemnly swear and affirm
22:39that you will truthfully try this case
22:41and render a true verdict according to
22:42the law and evidence as presented to you
22:46seated
22:50all right i want to first just start and
22:52make sure the jurors can all hear me
22:55if you
22:56can hear me raise your hand
22:58it looks like everyone
23:00okay so you may notice that a typical
23:03trial jury consists of 12 jurors that
23:06deliberate at the end of the trial to
23:08reach a verdict
23:09it is common however to have what are
23:11known as alternate jurors
23:14the role of the alternate juror is to
23:15function just as regular jurors do
23:18you'll be present throughout the
23:20duration of the trial but are excused
23:22just before the deliberations begin
23:26now we are fully aware that that can be
23:28frustrating for those of you who are
23:30ultimately chosen to be alternates
23:33but you serve as a important safety
23:35measure in the event that unforeseen
23:37circumstances prevent regular jurors
23:40from completing the trial
23:43make no assumptions at all as to whether
23:45you are an alternate or a regular juror
23:48based on where you are seated
23:50we've used a randomized seating chart to
23:52place you in your spots
23:54listen to all the evidence but
23:56understand that alternates are excused
23:59prior to
24:01the very
24:02well you sit here throughout the whole
24:04thing except for when they go back to
24:06deliberate
24:08uh but even at that point you're not
24:10totally excused it's always possible
24:13that during deliberations a juror may
24:15become unavailable and that we would
24:17have to call one of the alternates back
24:19so if you are ultimately an alternate on
24:22this trial you'll still be under the
24:24prohibition of discussing the case with
24:26anyone or looking up anything
24:28until the trial is completely concluded
24:32now given the length of the trial i also
24:34want to mention that we do typically
24:36take two comfort breaks throughout the
24:39day
24:40we're getting a late start today
24:41normally it's around 10 15 or 10 30 we
24:44take the first one i don't know that
24:46we'll do that today given the late start
24:48but at any time if someone is
24:51uncomfortable and needs to use the
24:52restroom they shouldn't feel embarrassed
24:54at all just by raising their hand and
24:56letting us know
24:58attorneys do it sometimes i do it so let
25:00us know if there's an issue because we
25:02want to make sure everyone is giving the
25:04trial their full attention
25:07now trials have several stages i'm going
25:09to briefly describe the remaining stages
25:11of this trial
25:12this is the preliminary instruction
25:15phase where i give you some of the
25:17instructions that you'll follow during
25:18the trial
25:19and the next will be the opening
25:21statements where the attorneys summarize
25:23what they expect the evidence to be
25:26then we'll have the presentation of the
25:28evidence where witnesses and exhibits
25:30are presented to you
25:32after all that we'll have jury
25:34instructions where i explain the law
25:36that applies to the charge in this case
25:39this includes explaining what the state
25:41must prove beyond a reasonable doubt for
25:43a guilty verdict
25:45and we will have printed copy of the
25:47instructions for you to refer to during
25:50deliberations
25:52after that the attorneys will give their
25:53closing arguments and that's where they
25:55have an attorney sorry an opportunity to
25:58persuade you on how to decide the case
26:03after they've made their
26:04closing arguments we'll excuse the
26:06alternates
26:08but again under the same prohibitions
26:10until the trial is completely done
26:12the remaining jurors will go into
26:14deliberations where they go back into
26:16the jury room and decide whether the
26:18defendant is guilty or not guilty
26:21and then lastly the jury returns its
26:23verdict
26:25we'll discuss how that's done a little
26:27later in the trial
26:29now i do want to start by explaining a
26:31bit about what is and what is not
26:33evidence in the case
26:35because it's extremely important that
26:37you consider only the evidence in
26:39deciding the facts
26:42now as i've said before don't allow any
26:44personal feelings sympathy prejudice or
26:47bias whether conscious or unconscious to
26:50influence your decision making
26:52you must not be biased in favor of or
26:55against any party witness or lawyer
26:58because of their disability gender
27:00gender identity race religion ethnicity
27:04sexual orientation
27:06age national origin or socioeconomic
27:10status
27:11as we've discussed before you were shown
27:13a video on unconscious bias and that's a
27:16term used by social scientists to
27:18describe the reality that everyone
27:20myself included as feelings assumptions
27:23perceptions fears and stereotypes that
27:26is unconscious biases that we may not be
27:29aware of
27:31these hidden thoughts can affect what we
27:33see and hear
27:34how we remember what we see in here
27:37how we interact with others and how we
27:39make important decisions
27:41our biases can affect how we act
27:43favorably or unfavorably towards someone
27:46and you must make every effort to be
27:48aware of these biases and what effect
27:50they may have on your decision making
27:52as a judge my role is to be a gatekeeper
27:55regarding the evidence i determine what
27:57the law allows to be evidence
28:00in effect the law considers anything
28:02that isn't evidence to be unreliable and
28:05that's why you must not consider
28:07non-evidence in deciding the facts
28:10however the law does not conclude that
28:12anything that is evidence is necessarily
28:14reliable determining the reliability or
28:18believability of evidence is ultimately
28:20your responsibility
28:22you must decide what evidence is
28:24believable and how believable or
28:26persuasive any particular piece of
28:28evidence is
28:29so while you're not allowed to consider
28:31anything that isn't evidence in deciding
28:33the facts you are free to decide how
28:36believable or unbelievable
28:38important or unimportant any particular
28:41piece of evidence is in deciding the
28:43facts
28:44evidence consists of testimony of
28:47witnesses and exhibits that are admitted
28:49into evidence
28:51testimony is what a witness who has
28:53sworn or affirmed to answer questions
28:55truthfully says while being examined as
28:58a witness and will be very easy to know
29:00when they're testifying because they'll
29:01be up here in this area
29:04exhibits are physical objects such as
29:07photographs charts and letters
29:09you'll be able to examine admitted
29:11exhibits during your deliberations and
29:13you may draw reasonable inferences from
29:16the evidence but do not guess or
29:18speculate
29:20in understanding with his evidence it's
29:21helpful to have some examples of what is
29:24not evidence
29:25the fact that a criminal charge has been
29:27filed against the defendant is not
29:30evidence
29:32any defendant is innocent of any crime
29:34unless and until the state proves their
29:36guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
29:39questions from lawyers and other
29:41non-witnesses for that matter are not
29:43evidence
29:44so whenever i sustain an objection to a
29:47question
29:48don't speculate about why the question
29:50was asked or what the answer would have
29:52been now this is a subtle but important
29:55point because it differs from our daily
29:57lives
29:59in our everyday lives if a friend asks
30:01us if we've seen a mutual friend's new
30:03car
30:04we infer from the question that the
30:06mutual friend in fact has a new car
30:09but we don't make the same assumption in
30:10trials
30:12the person asking the question is not a
30:14witness and is not subject to the
30:15safeguards that the law requires before
30:18you may consider the person's words as
30:20evidence
30:21so in court you're not allowed to
30:23consider questions asked by attorneys or
30:25anyone else in determining what the
30:27facts are
30:29those questions are not evidence
30:32so of course when a witness asks a
30:34question you can consider the answer in
30:35the context of the question and just to
30:38give a concrete example if a lawyer were
30:41to ask what color was bob's new car and
30:44the witness answers green
30:46you can take that answer as a green that
30:48bob in fact has a new car and that its
30:50color is green
30:51however if the witness answers bob
30:54doesn't have a new car you may not take
30:56the question as evidence that bob in
30:58fact actually did have one
31:01so i know that may be a little
31:02convoluted does everyone feel like they
31:04understand that all right i see naughty
31:06nodding heads
31:08now from time to time a lawyer may
31:10object to something that's offered into
31:12evidence and then i'll need to decide
31:14whether the objected to material will be
31:16admitted
31:18if i overrule the objection the material
31:20for example an exhibit or a witness's
31:23answer becomes evidence if i sustain the
31:26objection the exhibit is not admitted
31:29and is not evidence or the witness is
31:31not allowed to answer the question
31:34now
31:35frequently witnesses will start to
31:37answer questions before i've had a
31:39chance to rule
31:40and so if that happens and i ultimately
31:42sustain an objection to the question you
31:45have to disregard the response that
31:47they've made because their response is
31:49not evidence
31:50now occasionally i may decide that
31:53something that has been admitted into
31:54evidence should not have been
31:56if that happens i'll instruct you to
31:58disregard the exhibit or testimony that
32:01you should not have
32:02that should not have been admitted
32:04which means it's no longer evidence
32:06and you can't consider it in any way you
32:09must treat it as if the question had not
32:11been answered or the exhibit had not
32:12been received in the first place
32:15now you must not interpret any statement
32:17ruling or remark that i make during this
32:20trial as any indication that i formed
32:22any opinion about the facts or outcome
32:24of this case
32:26you and you alone are to decide the
32:28facts
32:29you must decide how believable the
32:31evidence is and what weight or value
32:34you'll give that evidence
32:36now you may take notes if you wish
32:37during the trial
32:39however please keep in mind that each
32:41party is entitled to the considered
32:43decision of each juror
32:45so
32:46some people it works really well for
32:48them to take notes they're able to do
32:49that and pay attention and others feel
32:51like if i take notes i can't really pay
32:53attention it's completely up to you i do
32:55want to ask do they have their notepads
32:57yet they do okay
32:59you are going to see me up here i have
33:01these computer monitors and you will see
33:03me typing away from time to time i just
33:05want everyone to understand that when
33:06you see me doing that i'm taking notes
33:09i'm not doing anything unrelated to the
33:11trial itself
33:14now during deliberations
33:16you shouldn't give undue weight to
33:18another juror's notes if those notes
33:20conflict with your own or your
33:22recollection of the evidence
33:24don't allow your note-taking to
33:25interfere with your ability to observe
33:28and evaluate testimony
33:30now your notes can only be in two places
33:32either here in the courtroom in your
33:34chair when you leave or in the jury room
33:38you can't take the notes with you
33:40when you go to lunch or overnight breaks
33:41for example
33:43my staff will make sure the notes are
33:44safe and that no one has access to them
33:47during your absence
33:49now don't discuss this case during the
33:52trial with anyone including any of the
33:54lawyers parties witnesses your friends
33:57members of the family the media
34:00don't
34:00communicate with anyone by any means
34:02such as telephone text message email etc
34:06all the things that we've talked about
34:07before
34:09and don't discuss the case with each
34:10other
34:11the other jurors or look at their notes
34:14until you begin your deliberations at
34:16the end of the case
34:18after you've heard all the evidence and
34:19the argument of the lawyers have been
34:21instructed on the law that applies to
34:23the case
34:25each of you must keep an open mind
34:26throughout the trial and must not
34:28attempt to decide the case until you
34:30begin your deliberations
34:32i don't make any independent personal
34:34investigation and any facts or locations
34:37connected with the case i think we've
34:39gone over this a multitude of times so i
34:41won't say the entire thing again
34:43but uh
34:44just keep in mind that you you can't
34:46read any news stories or go on the
34:48computer
34:49or communicate with anyone about what
34:52you see or hear in the courtroom
34:54or try to find out more about the case
34:56you can only decide the case on what
34:58happens here in open court where both
35:00the state and the defense are aware of
35:02and have had the opportunity to question
35:04the source of the evidence and to
35:06address any legal issues that may arise
35:09it's the only way to
35:11only fair way to decide a case
35:14if you do base your verdict on anything
35:16other than what you've learned in this
35:18courtroom that could be grounds for
35:20what's called a mistrial which means all
35:22of the work that's been done up to this
35:24point is essentially thrown out the
35:26window
35:28um
35:30we have to start the whole process over
35:32again that's why it's so important and
35:34that's why i've emphasized it so many
35:36times as we've talked
35:38also ignore any attempted improper
35:40communication
35:41if someone tries to communicate with you
35:43about the case tell them you can't
35:45discuss it because you're a juror
35:47if they persist simply walk away and
35:49report the incident to the court
35:53you can't talk to anyone about the case
35:55even those closest to you except to say
35:57that you're a juror on a criminal case
35:59and judge rammer says you cannot talk
36:01about it
36:02after you've rendered your verdict or
36:04have been otherwise discharged by me
36:06you'll be free to do any research you
36:08choose or to share your experience with
36:10anyone you choose either directly or
36:13through your favorite electronic means
36:16again remember that all
36:17non-medical electronic devices are to be
36:20turned off during the trial
36:24you can only use those during breaks
36:27now i'm sure you've all noticed that
36:29while most buildings no longer enforce
36:31the wearing of mass in oregon we're
36:34continuing to do so in the courthouse
36:36for the time being
36:38during the trial there will be a few
36:39exceptions to this
36:41the attorneys will remove their mass
36:43when they're presenting their opening
36:44and closing statements
36:46and the defendant ms brophy is not
36:48required to wear a mask
36:50lastly witnesses will remove their mass
36:53when they testify but the rest of us
36:55will wear mass
36:57so we'll now hear the opening statements
36:59in which the lawyers will outline the
37:01evidence as they expect it to be
37:03and after the opening statements the
37:05evidence will be presented
37:09at the end of the trial you will have to
37:11make your decision based on what you
37:13recall of the evidence you'll not have a
37:15written transcript to consult i want to
37:17be very clear about that and even though
37:19we are recording it's very difficult to
37:22play back recorded testimony so while i
37:24won't say it's never done it's rarely
37:27done
37:28i urge you to pay close attention to the
37:30testimony as it is given and if at any
37:32time you can't hear a question or an
37:35answer or you can't hear me let me know
37:38immediately by raising your hand
37:41and performing your role you must of
37:42course be fair and impartial and you
37:45must follow the law whether you agree
37:46with it completely or not
37:48and you must not allow yourself to be
37:50influenced at all by personal feelings
37:52sympathy for
37:54or prejudice against anyone involved in
37:56the case
37:58so with that we'll uh turn to the state
38:00uh your honor there is a short matter
38:02that the parties need to confer on
38:04before we get do we need a short break i
38:07think just a short break would be fine
38:08all right and one thing i should have
38:10said too to the jury
38:13just so you're not frustrated by this
38:14throughout the course of the trial but
38:16there are often things that come up that
38:17we do need to discuss outside your
38:19presence nothing else it gives you a
38:21chance to stretch your legs a little bit
38:23so we'll uh we'll have miss lou take you
38:25back to the jury room and
38:29why don't we why don't we leave it
38:31running so that uh
38:32no go ahead let's go off all right let's
38:34go
45:19i just want to let you know
45:20you know
48:31everyone can be seated
48:33in the store street when you're ready
48:44[Applause]
48:51dan brophy
48:52met nancy crampton
48:55when mrs crampton moved to oregon
48:57and enrolled and attended the culinary
48:59institute in the early 90s
49:02dan brophy was her instructor
49:05the two started dating
49:08and within a couple of years
49:10and enough convincing by miss crampton
49:13the two were married by 1999.
49:17they bought their first house in 1999
49:20and they lived in their modest home
49:22in the suburb of portland
49:24until dan's staff in june of 2018.
49:29although dan brophy had a child now an
49:31adult
49:32from a previous marriage
49:34dan murphy
49:36and now
49:36nancy brophy
49:38never had any children
49:42they also did not have anyone in their
49:44lives and dan died that depended
49:47on the baroques financially
49:51over the years nancy worked as a caterer
49:54she sold life insurance and life
49:55insurance products
49:57and other insurance products
49:59but she also wrote romance novels
50:03nancy wrote and published several books
50:05over the years
50:06none of that really led to much
50:08financial success
50:10as time went by nancy seemed to focus
50:12more on selling insurance
50:18while that's going on
50:20dan brophy continued his employment at
50:22the oregon culinary institute
50:24he worked at other culinary schools over
50:27the years
50:28but at the time of his death he was
50:30working at the oregon colonies
50:33he was a lead chef instructor there
50:36he also had other employment at a care
50:37facility called avenir where he was
50:41a cook
50:42as a favor to a friend who needed some
50:44help in the kitchen
50:48on the surface
50:49the brophies appeared to their friends
50:51and family
50:52to be a couple in love
50:54who are entering the next stage in life
50:58after leaving what nancy would later
50:59tell detectives was a simple life
51:03to damn brophy that simple life was
51:05raising chickens
51:08and tending to a garden where he grew
51:09spices
51:12and he would take these spices to school
51:15and sell them to his students for a
51:17pretty nominal price
51:20dan was content with nancy running the
51:21household
51:23his dan brophy would refer to nancy
51:26as management
51:28the role that nancy brophy gladly
51:30accepted
51:34the financial struggles really began to
51:36develop in 2016
51:38as the two struggled to pay their 1 530
51:42mortgage
51:43starting in june
51:47at one point they even drained their
51:50only retirement account a 401k
51:53that had about 35 000
51:56and they also took a 5 000 loan
51:59on a life insurance calls
52:02they used that money to catch up on
52:03mortgages on the mortgage
52:06to pay for home renovations
52:08landscaping
52:10payday irs
52:11favorites for travel
52:13housekeeping
52:14storage
52:16and this broke we spent about 1500 of
52:18that money on guns
52:20and gun parts
52:23but we're also spending well over a
52:24thousand dollars each month
52:28on life insurance premiums
52:33due to a pattern of overspending
52:35they were on track again to be in
52:37financial despair within months
52:41by late 2017
52:43financial despair evident and no end in
52:45sight
52:46as their mortgage just continued to rise
52:49due to a mortgage rate increase
52:53nancy started researching
52:56and planning the murder of dan brooke
53:00nancy started first by researching ghost
53:02guns online
53:05ghost guns are available for purchase
53:07online
53:09they are marketed as unserialized
53:13unregistered
53:14and untraceable firearms
53:18they sell them as a kit online
53:22and what this kit is
53:26is the lower frame of the gun
53:29that requires some knowledge and skill
53:32to be able to build it
53:36however the sliding barrel
53:38that comes with the ghost gun kit
53:42is fully intact and ready for use
53:47miss brophy visited the ghost guns
53:49website on november 27 2017
53:54and again
53:55on december 12
53:562017.
54:00then on christmas eve of 2017
54:04nancy grophy
54:05once again
54:07while dan rofi was just getting off of
54:09work at avenue
54:11visited the ghost guns website
54:14but this time she didn't just visit
54:17this time she purchased
54:19a glock 19
54:21nine millimeter
54:23ghost down build kit
54:27that metal kit was delivered in early
54:30january 2018
54:33and it was later found by police
54:36when they searched a storage unit rented
54:38by nancy brophy
54:41when the police located it it did not
54:43appear
54:45that nancy brophy ever built it
54:48it became apparent it required a level
54:50of skill
54:51to build
54:52that nancy brophy simply did not
55:05by late possess 2018
55:08nancy was once again searching
55:11for information regarding blocks
55:14including whether or not the glock had a
55:16kickback
55:17when fired
55:19as well as searching
55:21videos regarding ghost 19 i'm sorry
55:25glock 19 ghost guns
55:29apparently unable to complete the build
55:31of the ghost gun kit
55:33nancy brophy once again returned to her
55:35online research
55:37where she searched where she searched
55:38for gun shops in the portland area
55:41and on february 15 2018
55:45she was searching for a portland expo
55:47gun show
55:50on february 17th
55:52nancy visited the portland expo gun show
55:56alone
55:58while dan brophy was at work at the
55:59culinaries
56:05at the gun show instead of a glock 19
56:07nine millimeter
56:09like she had purchased from ghost guns
56:11this time she purchased a completed
56:15block 17 9 millimeter
56:19and the seller gave nancy broke the
56:21written directions on the back of the
56:22receipt
56:24to a public gun range
56:26out of highway 26 towards the oregon
56:28coast
56:31two days later
56:33forensic evidence will show that nancy
56:35was again searching
56:37for a glock 17 for sale online
56:42that search took nancy to ebay
56:45where she set up an ebay account and
56:47started shopping for a glock 17 sliding
56:49barrel
56:52by february 23rd
56:54nancy had won an auction for a glock 17
56:57slide barrel
57:00that sliding barrel arrived
57:02at nancy's home on february 28
57:052018.
57:08shortly after that nancy deleted her
57:10ebay account
57:14investigators determined that the
57:15sliding barrel that nancy brophy had
57:17purchased for ebay
57:19would fit perfectly on the lower frame
57:21of the gun
57:23she had purchased from the gun show
57:26you'll hear from forensic scientist
57:28leland samuelson in this case
57:31we'll tell you
57:33that the sliding barrel
57:35is what leads what he will call tool
57:38arms on the shell casings
57:43bullets are fired from again
57:45and then it is the comparison of shell
57:48casings fired from the same
57:50sliding barrel
57:52that would result in a match
57:56he will tell you that if you shoot a gun
57:59and swap the slider barrel
58:03the shell casings markings
58:05would not be a match on comparison
58:10the evidence will show you that nancy
58:12possibly attempted to use the ghost gun
58:14slide and barrel
58:16ghost gun
58:19to swap out with the gun show sliding
58:22barrel
58:26and that she possibly just made a
58:28mistake
58:30you see the glock 19
58:32and the glock 17
58:34both nine millimeter firearms
58:36look incredibly similar
58:39in fact the only difference in the two
58:41guns
58:42is that one of them has a slightly
58:43shorter barrel
58:48by the time nancy brophy could have
58:49realized that she could not use the
58:52ghost gun slide and barrel on the gun
58:55show gun
58:57she turned to the internet
58:59to find another slide and barrel
59:01that could replace
59:02the gun show gun
59:04sliding barrel
59:07as i said that ebay slide and barrel
59:09that she purchased
59:11would fit
59:12on the gun that she purchased from the
59:14gun show
59:16and that that ebay
59:18purchase
59:19that slide and barrel that she purchased
59:22that is the only
59:24firearm or firearm part
59:26that law enforcement did not uncover
59:30in this investigation
59:32despite the fact that they executed
59:34search warrants on nancy brophy's home
59:38her public storage unit
59:40and the two pods that she rented for
59:42storage
59:44leland samuelson will conclude
59:48that nancy brophy did not use the slide
59:50and barrel
59:51from the ghost gun
59:52in this homicide
59:55nor did she use the slide and barrel
59:57that came with
59:59the gun that she purchased from the gun
1:00:01show
1:00:03however
1:00:05since law enforcement was unable to
1:00:07recover the slide and barrel that she
1:00:08purchased on ebay
1:00:10leland samuelson is prevented
1:00:12from doing a comparison to that slide
1:00:14and barrel
1:00:17now by february 28th once the ebay slide
1:00:20barrel had arrived
1:00:22nancy had everything she needed at that
1:00:24point to carry out and conceal the
1:00:25murder
1:00:27accept the experience of shooting a
1:00:29firearm
1:00:32after returning from a short trip in
1:00:33mid-march
1:00:35nancy got up on a monday morning
1:00:37and started researching how to load a
1:00:38glock 9 millimeter
1:00:41she found herself on youtube that
1:00:43morning
1:00:44with access to numerous videos
1:00:46instructing the viewer on how to load
1:00:49glock nine millimeters
1:00:52later that same morning after
1:00:54she was done with her research
1:00:57nancy's phone can then be tracked
1:00:59leaving her in dan brophy's home
1:01:01in beaverton
1:01:03and heading westbound on highway 26.
1:01:07now nancy's phone in the past
1:01:09has made the same journey
1:01:11as it appears that nancy would frequent
1:01:13the oregon coast
1:01:15however on march 26th
1:01:18nancy brophy's phone does not go all the
1:01:20way to the coast
1:01:21instead it stops somewhere along the way
1:01:24and cell site evidence will show you
1:01:27that nancy's phone was hitting off of a
1:01:29tower
1:01:30that serviced that same public shooting
1:01:32range
1:01:34that had been provided direct that she
1:01:36had been provided directions by the gun
1:01:38broker from the gun show
1:01:41now it doesn't appear that morning that
1:01:42she had much time
1:01:44to even shoot that morning
1:01:47before she had to return to portland for
1:01:49lunch
1:01:51however nancy returned to that same area
1:01:54the very next morning on march 27 2018
1:01:58and it appears that she did remain in
1:01:59the area long enough
1:02:01in order for somebody to fire a gun
1:02:04you're going to hear about how this
1:02:06range is set up how it's public and open
1:02:10and that you simply just have to drive
1:02:11up a gravel road
1:02:13park on the side get out and begin
1:02:16shooting downrange
1:02:18without any need to interact
1:02:21with anyone
1:02:25both of these trips that she took up
1:02:26there
1:02:28on the 26th and 27th were both done
1:02:31while dan brophy was at work at the
1:02:32oregon culinary institute
1:02:37now by june 2nd
1:02:38nancy had purchased the necessary
1:02:40firearms and parts
1:02:42to carry out and conceal the murder
1:02:45as well as now had an opportunity to
1:02:46practice with the gun
1:02:48and further educate herself online about
1:02:50the assembly
1:02:51disassembly and cleaning of a glock
1:02:56nancy left her home early that saturday
1:02:58morning on june 2nd
1:03:01and it's first seen on surveillance
1:03:02video
1:03:04downtown near the oregon culinary
1:03:06institute
1:03:07at about 6 39 a.m
1:03:18you'll see heading here
1:03:20eastbound on jefferson
1:03:25van minivan being driven
1:03:28by nancy brophy
1:03:34she is then seen on numerous cameras
1:03:37around the area of the oregon culinary
1:03:38institute you'll get to see all of those
1:03:40videos
1:03:42she's seen on several of those videos
1:03:44until she's finally seen
1:03:48coming down columbia
1:03:51turning on the 17th
1:03:54at about 708
1:03:56she's not seen again on camera
1:03:59until 7 28.
1:04:01i believe the evidence will show you
1:04:03that she remained
1:04:05within this area
1:04:07during that time between 708 and 728
1:04:11otherwise she would have been caught on
1:04:12the various other cameras
1:04:14leaving the area
1:04:19now at 7 20
1:04:22we can see
1:04:24dan brophy
1:04:28coming into town
1:04:29near the oregon culinary institute and
1:04:31this is the view of that camera up this
1:04:34way of jefferson
1:04:39see a white pickup truck coming into
1:04:40frame
1:04:42that is the white pickup truck being
1:04:43driven by dan brophy
1:04:47now he turns
1:04:49on the 20th of 19th and comes in
1:04:52to the oregon coroner institute
1:04:54from that direction
1:04:59dan parks his truck
1:05:01on 17th avenue
1:05:04right near jefferson
1:05:06right in front of the culinary institute
1:05:08you'll see his white pickup truck on the
1:05:10picture on the left
1:05:11that is a
1:05:13picture taken from the crime scene
1:05:15and again that's where he's parked right
1:05:17in front of the clinton institute
1:05:21i want you to take the picture on the
1:05:22right up on the screen
1:05:26this is just a google map image of the
1:05:28culinary institute
1:05:30but you can see
1:05:35there's a mandoor there
1:05:37and a garage door both that go into the
1:05:40culinary institute
1:05:45oh thank you
1:05:47a lot easier
1:05:50and what we know is that 7
1:05:5322
1:05:54am and 30 seconds
1:05:57dan enters through this door
1:06:01disables the alarm
1:06:04first person there that morning
1:06:08and once he goes in
1:06:10he goes around and he opens that roll-up
1:06:12door
1:06:15here on exhibit one you'll see this is
1:06:18the layout of the culinary institute
1:06:20it's a large building
1:06:22that takes up
1:06:24this whole portion of the block in that
1:06:26area
1:06:29this is that side door that i talked
1:06:31about mr brophy entering
1:06:33the side door on 17.
1:06:35his car being parked
1:06:36his pickup being parked somewhere over
1:06:37here
1:06:39this is that roll-up door that you can
1:06:41see in the photo over there
1:06:43again that door
1:06:45was now open
1:06:46sometime after 7 22 am
1:06:59that door open mr brophy is able to
1:07:01unload some larger objects from his
1:07:03pickup
1:07:04and easily carry them inside
1:07:07now at that time nancy brophy would have
1:07:10had the opportunity
1:07:12to walk through
1:07:14this roll-up door
1:07:17and enter a building that she had been
1:07:18to several times in the past
1:07:22a building that she was very familiar
1:07:23with
1:07:24knowing the layout
1:07:26knowing that there were no cameras
1:07:29inside or out
1:07:31and even knowing the other employees
1:07:33schedules
1:07:36that allow miss brophy the opportunity
1:07:37to enter through the storeroom
1:07:40navigate the labyrinth that is the
1:07:41oregon culinary institute
1:07:45and find dan
1:07:46in the very back
1:07:48of the school
1:07:51kitchen one
1:08:00dan was standing at a sink
1:08:02commercial sink
1:08:05he was filling up the ice and water
1:08:07buckets
1:08:08as he did every day for the students
1:08:12he would have had his back
1:08:16the door
1:08:18that nancy brophy likely entered into
1:08:22standing about right here
1:08:29nancy shot him first in the back
1:08:37penetrating his spine
1:08:39and piercing through his heart
1:08:44after dan fell onto his back possibly
1:08:46paralyzed from the first shot
1:08:49nancy fired one more round into his
1:08:51chest
1:08:54also
1:08:55piercing through dan's heart
1:08:58the medical examiner concluded
1:09:02that either shot
1:09:03could have been fatal
1:09:07two nine millimeter shell casings were
1:09:10recovered from the scene near dan's body
1:09:15those two
1:09:16shell casings had consistent markings
1:09:19as you'll hear from leland samuelson
1:09:23as if they were fired from a glock
1:09:28minutes later
1:09:30at 7 28 am
1:09:33nancy can be seen
1:09:34once again on surveillance video
1:09:40turning off of 17th avenue
1:09:43in front of the culinary institute
1:09:45and on to
1:09:46jefferson
1:09:48she drives out of town
1:09:50towards her home
1:10:06nancy is then seen
1:10:08around her home a short time later by
1:10:09neighbors
1:10:12they noted that she seemed distressed
1:10:13and kind of frantic
1:10:17nancy brophy was claiming that she was
1:10:19looking for her dogs that had gotten out
1:10:22however the neighbors did not see any
1:10:24dogs
1:10:26nancy eventually returned home
1:10:30the first call that morning came in at 9
1:10:3254 a.m
1:10:35from a good friend of nancy's and dance
1:10:39maxine borgerding
1:10:42miss borgia ding told nancy
1:10:45that something had happened at the
1:10:46oregon culinary institute and there was
1:10:48a lot of police down there
1:10:53miss brophy gets off the phone with miss
1:10:55borgerding
1:10:57and she calls dan brophy's phone two
1:10:59times
1:11:00she also sends a text
1:11:04she never tried to call him or text him
1:11:06again
1:11:10nancy brophy then speaks to miss
1:11:13borgerding
1:11:14several times
1:11:15calling each other back and forth
1:11:17for about the next 10 minutes
1:11:21nancy brophy then calls karen brophy
1:11:26dan brophy's mother
1:11:30as miss brophy explains to karen brophy
1:11:34that something has happened
1:11:37karen brophy becomes concerned
1:11:39and asks why nancy brophy is not going
1:11:42to the culinary institute why she has
1:11:43not left her house
1:11:47and nancy brophy said something along
1:11:48the lines of because there's going to be
1:11:50too much police activity down there
1:11:54a short time later
1:11:57nancy brophy did decide to finally drive
1:11:59down to the culinary institute
1:12:02she arrived down there at about 10 28
1:12:04a.m
1:12:09about 20 minutes later at 10 47 a.m
1:12:13detectives conducted what they call a
1:12:15death notification
1:12:18that is when there is a homicide of some
1:12:20sort
1:12:21they will meet with the next of kin
1:12:24and explain
1:12:26that their loved one has died
1:12:30the detectives recorded that
1:12:32death notification
1:12:35and in that death notification
1:12:38nancy told detectives
1:12:40that she was home all morning
1:12:43she even went on to explain the
1:12:45interactions that she had
1:12:47with dan
1:12:48that morning
1:12:52and i was going to ask you when when you
1:12:54said dan woke up
1:12:56he gets he's an early riser has his
1:12:57routine walks the dog feeds the chickens
1:13:01so this morning
1:13:03uh did you wake up at the same time or
1:13:05after him or wow that guy i didn't sleep
1:13:07well and i don't know why i didn't sleep
1:13:09well but i'm thinking to that age so i
1:13:12woke up when he came up for a shower so
1:13:14that would have been
1:13:166 50 6 45.
1:13:20and he said because he was getting a
1:13:22shower that's when you woke up okay
1:13:25and he used to shower downstairs
1:13:28and then so after he got his shower this
1:13:30morning though
1:13:33okay
1:13:36so and then when did you see him uh
1:13:38after that did you have breakfast with
1:13:40him you know i mean what happened after
1:13:41i didn't get out of bed oh you just kind
1:13:43of woke up and you were alert right in
1:13:44bed yeah and we have
1:13:48our we
1:13:49our bedroom is an attic
1:13:52was an attic and so the bathroom's right
1:13:54here and so okay you know he got dressed
1:13:56and left
1:13:57did he say
1:13:58uh did you guys talk before he left or
1:14:00anything like that about the about the
1:14:02uh
1:14:03water leak
1:14:09it's about seven minutes
1:14:11to that same conversation
1:14:14where detectives finally broke the news
1:14:15to her
1:14:19i just want to let you know that you
1:14:21know we believe you know
1:14:25damn we believe it stan that's that that
1:14:28has been killed
1:14:29yeah i kind of got that when everybody
1:14:31gave me the sad sack
1:14:35the reaction that she kind of figured
1:14:39nancy went on to explain during that
1:14:42same conversation that everyone loved
1:14:44dan
1:14:46you can't think of a single person who
1:14:48would want to hurt him
1:14:51however it's not until 10 minutes into
1:14:53this conversation that nancy finally
1:14:55asked what happened
1:14:59it's not until 47 minutes into the
1:15:01conversation
1:15:03that nancy finally asked where dan is
1:15:09during the conversation
1:15:11when asked if dan and nancy brophy owned
1:15:13any guns
1:15:16miss brophy disclosed
1:15:18that she had bought a glock 17
1:15:22at the gun show several months prior
1:15:26and that she thought maybe that it was a
1:15:27nine millimeter that that sounded right
1:15:30and that they bought the gun
1:15:32in response to recent school shootings
1:15:38she said that when she got that gun home
1:15:42she realized it wasn't something she
1:15:44wanted anymore
1:15:48so
1:15:49instead of attempting to return it or
1:15:52sell it
1:15:53she decided
1:15:54that it was too heavy and too ugly and
1:15:56that she just was going to put it away
1:15:59she put it back in the case put it up in
1:16:00a closet
1:16:02and never even bought ammo for it
1:16:09however during that
1:16:12that same conversation
1:16:16even when asked about firearms
1:16:20failed to mention that she had purchased
1:16:21a ghost gun build kit online
1:16:25she also failed to mention
1:16:27that she purchased a slide and barrel
1:16:29from ebay
1:16:32now after the death notification
1:16:34concluded and you will get to hear the
1:16:36entirety of that death notification
1:16:40detective merrill enlisted the help of
1:16:43two other detectives
1:16:44detective broughton
1:16:47detective beniga
1:16:51now detective merrill had asked
1:16:52detective uh
1:16:54broughton and detective bonita to
1:16:55accompany
1:16:57nancy brophy back to her home
1:17:00to ensure that the firearm that they had
1:17:02purchased at the gun show was still
1:17:04there
1:17:05as the detectives at that time were
1:17:06concerned that maybe dan brophy had
1:17:08brought
1:17:09the gun with him to the school because
1:17:10he was worried about something
1:17:14now nancy groffy believed that the gun
1:17:16was still at home and intact
1:17:18so she agreed and
1:17:20detective broughton actually drove
1:17:23this brophy back to her home in her own
1:17:25minivan
1:17:26so that she didn't have to drive after
1:17:28just learning that her husband had been
1:17:30shot to death
1:17:34when they got back to the house
1:17:37nancy brophy went straight to the closet
1:17:40straight to where she believed the gun
1:17:41had been
1:17:42and in fact it was there
1:17:44and she handed the gun case over to
1:17:46detective broughton
1:17:49now detective broughton and detective
1:17:51baniga
1:17:53took photographs of that gun
1:17:55before they collected it and the
1:17:57condition that it was in
1:17:59and given to them
1:18:01by miss brophy
1:18:03and what they noticed as you can see in
1:18:05the big circle here
1:18:09that sliding
1:18:10barrel is not seated appropriately on
1:18:13that firearm
1:18:15meaning
1:18:17that gun is not ready to be loaded and
1:18:19fired
1:18:21what they noticed and they'll use a term
1:18:23called out of battery
1:18:25this gun seems to be out of battery
1:18:28what that means is when that slide is
1:18:30not fully seated
1:18:32that means it's been manipulated
1:18:37that means that when that slide and
1:18:39barrel had been removed
1:18:41when it was replaced
1:18:43it was not properly set
1:18:46something you'll hear from
1:18:48the gun broker who told her the gun
1:18:51they would not have let the gun leave
1:18:54and purchased in that condition
1:18:57meaning it was not ready to be made safe
1:19:04now well detective broughton
1:19:06and detective beniga were at the brophy
1:19:09home
1:19:11detective merrill and detective posey
1:19:13were searching the area around the
1:19:15oregon culinary institute
1:19:17for surveillance video
1:19:20they went across the street
1:19:22to bellagio's pizza
1:19:26roughly located around this area
1:19:29kind of across from the oregon culinary
1:19:31institute
1:19:32and it had a camera angle
1:19:35pointed north
1:19:39as they watched that video
1:19:42they recognized
1:19:45a minivan
1:19:48that they thought was visually
1:19:49consistent
1:19:50with nancy brophy's minivan
1:19:54because they had just seen her with it
1:19:56downtown
1:19:57minutes prior
1:19:59as they continued watching this video
1:20:01they realized that this van actually
1:20:03passes
1:20:05heading this direction heading westbound
1:20:08two separate times
1:20:10that morning
1:20:12first at 708
1:20:14and the second
1:20:167 28.
1:20:19now detectives knew that the next
1:20:21instructor had arrived
1:20:24at about 7 35
1:20:26at the culinary institute
1:20:29and detectives knew
1:20:30that dan had disabled alarm
1:20:32at 7 22 and 30 seconds
1:20:35so now they had a window
1:20:37of opportunity
1:20:40for someone to kill dan
1:20:43they had about a 13-minute window and as
1:20:46they're watching this video they realize
1:20:49that it appears that nancy brophy
1:20:52is leaving the area of the culinary
1:20:53institute heading out of town at 7 28
1:20:56right in the middle of their window
1:21:02after seeing that detectives detective
1:21:04merrill contacted
1:21:06detective boniga
1:21:07who was still out at this brophy's home
1:21:12detective merrill requested
1:21:14that detective boniga take a photograph
1:21:17of the minivan
1:21:18and text it to him
1:21:21detective beniga took several shots of
1:21:24the minivan
1:21:25on different angles
1:21:29and when
1:21:30miss brophy saw that detective boniga
1:21:32was doing that
1:21:34she immediately questioned him as to why
1:21:35he would need photographs of her van
1:21:37because she wasn't at the culinary
1:21:39institute that morning
1:21:40so what's the need
1:21:44detective benegan nonetheless took the
1:21:46photographs and sent them on
1:21:48to detective merrell
1:21:50detective merrill then compared
1:21:52that still shot
1:21:53on the left
1:21:55that detected bonita
1:21:57had taken you can see him
1:22:02what detective meryl noticed immediately
1:22:06large gouge
1:22:08picture that detective said
1:22:12compared to the photograph that or the
1:22:14still shot
1:22:16that he's looking at bellagio's video
1:22:19second merrell believes there's a
1:22:20visually consistent mark
1:22:24in that minivan
1:22:29now detective merrill
1:22:32believed that this was in fact the
1:22:36minivan nancy brophy was driving around
1:22:39that morning it was the same minivan
1:22:41that he's seeing in the video
1:22:43however that was a direct contradiction
1:22:46to what nancy brophy just told them
1:22:48less than an hour prior
1:22:50during the death notification
1:22:52when she was at home
1:22:54and as you heard further elaborated on
1:22:56the conversations
1:22:58and interactions that she had with dan
1:23:00brophy that morning
1:23:06june 6
1:23:072018
1:23:09just four days after the murder
1:23:12when posey detective posey was speaking
1:23:15with nancy brophy
1:23:17nancy brophy asked a question
1:23:20that detective posey has never been
1:23:22asked before
1:23:24okay i don't want to do
1:23:26but this may give you a laugh this
1:23:28afternoon uh i don't want to be the
1:23:30stupid question of the day but i think i
1:23:31need to be the stupid question of the
1:23:32day ah so my insurance company said
1:23:37just have the detective write the letter
1:23:38that you're no longer a suspect
1:23:40and i said man i just don't know that
1:23:42he's there uh and i'm not sure that he
1:23:46looks at that way but if you do
1:23:48i get you to write the letter my sister
1:23:50when i told her this as a lawyer laughed
1:23:52so hard she fell out of the chair so
1:23:55why
1:23:57why would you need that
1:23:59because
1:24:01they don't want to pay
1:24:03if it turns out that i secretly
1:24:07looked down to the school and shot my
1:24:08husband because i thought hey going into
1:24:11old age without dan after 25 years it's
1:24:14really what i'm looking for you know
1:24:16okay
1:24:17well we we never would do something like
1:24:20that i i really didn't think so yeah i
1:24:22mean that's not something that we i i we
1:24:25never we never do something like that
1:24:27that's never been done i've never heard
1:24:29of that being done i was shocked
1:24:32and the other thing he says well i said
1:24:34so
1:24:35what happens if in fact based upon your
1:24:38and this is this is such a stupid little
1:24:40policy i can't believe they're making me
1:24:42jump to the hoops like this this is only
1:24:43forty thousand dollars
1:24:45and as my sister said you know usually
1:24:47when they do that it's for millions and
1:24:49i said yeah we weren't insured for
1:24:50millions
1:24:52uh
1:24:53but uh
1:24:54but the other thing is i said what
1:24:56happens if in fact this case never gets
1:24:58resolved
1:24:59and they said well that has to go to um
1:25:02up to the supervisors to be evaluated
1:25:05and i'm thinking great
1:25:08so i
1:25:12it's a little quiet and but when this
1:25:14woman asked for this today i thought
1:25:19it's a little quiet but essentially what
1:25:21miss brophy was asking detective posey
1:25:23to do
1:25:25to write a letter exonerating her from
1:25:27the murder that she was no longer a
1:25:29suspect
1:25:31and miss brophy's requesting this letter
1:25:32apparently
1:25:34she made a point to say it's just a
1:25:36little 40 000 policy she can't believe
1:25:39that she's being made jump through these
1:25:40hoops
1:25:42however as the investigation would later
1:25:44reveal
1:25:46nancy made claims on 10
1:25:49separate life insurance policies
1:25:52in which she was the beneficiary of over
1:25:541.4 million dollars
1:25:59detectives also discovered other
1:26:00financial incentives
1:26:02as nancy would have been entitled
1:26:04to all the equity in their home
1:26:06as well as a worker's comp claim that
1:26:08would have paid because dan was killed
1:26:10at his place of work
1:26:14through financial records
1:26:16detectives discovered that nancy brophy
1:26:19was maintaining
1:26:21all those life insurance policies
1:26:24while continuing down a path of
1:26:26financial ruling
1:26:29investigators discovered as i said well
1:26:31over a thousand dollars per month was
1:26:33being paid
1:26:34into these policies at a time that they
1:26:37were struggling to even pay their
1:26:38mortgage
1:26:39in fact on certain months foregoing
1:26:42to pay their mortgage
1:26:46as you'll see throughout this trial the
1:26:48investigation was wide and extensive
1:26:52and based on the scene
1:26:54detectives knew
1:26:56from the beginning that this was not a
1:26:57burglary
1:26:59this was not a robbery
1:27:01as the oregon culinary institute was
1:27:02void of any evidence
1:27:05of those crimes
1:27:07nothing was out of place as you'll see
1:27:09in the photographs and hear testimony
1:27:11from students and faculty
1:27:14and nothing was missing
1:27:17despite the valuable items that are
1:27:19inside the culinary institute nothing
1:27:21was missing
1:27:22including
1:27:24things that dan had on his person
1:27:26his wallet
1:27:28keys that were left on a table near the
1:27:31door
1:27:32his cell phone his watch
1:27:35cash
1:27:37none of it was touched
1:27:42eventually
1:27:44all the evidence and all of the leads
1:27:46the detectives followed up with
1:27:49all pointed back to nancy brophy
1:27:54which resulted in her arrest on
1:27:56september 5th
1:27:582018.
1:28:01as the officers placed the handcuffs on
1:28:03the wrist of a 68 year old woman
1:28:05who had never been arrested before
1:28:08she simply stated oh
1:28:10you must think i killed my husband
1:28:15at the conclusion of the evidence
1:28:17in this case i will be asking you to
1:28:19return a verdict of guilty
1:28:21for the single charge of murder
1:28:25the actions of nancy brophy
1:28:27on june 2nd
1:28:292018
1:28:31when she executed
1:28:33what she perhaps believed to be the
1:28:35perfect plan
1:28:37when she ended the life of beloved chef
1:28:41daniel brooke
1:28:48we need to change the choreography here
1:28:51a little bit i'm going to use a
1:28:51different podium and i need my tech
1:28:54person to help me get set up
1:28:57does it make sense for the jury to take
1:28:59a break or will this just be a few
1:29:00minutes
1:29:02well um
1:29:04it makes sense for the jury to take a
1:29:06break my next question though is
1:29:09would the court go past noon we will if
1:29:11you're not done yeah
1:29:13all right so we'll give the jurors
1:29:14another chance to stretch their legs and
1:29:17have you step out for just a moment and
1:29:19why don't we go ahead and go off the
1:29:20record
1:29:22if everyone can rise for the jury again
1:30:05all right everyone can be seated
1:41:57all right please be seated
1:41:59and one defense is ready
1:42:04[Music]
1:42:22oh
1:42:30sorry you guys this is always the
1:42:31scariest part
1:42:38there we go
1:42:42good morning
1:42:44during this trial the state will present
1:42:47a circumstantial case that begs you to
1:42:49cast
1:42:50a blind eye to the most important
1:42:52circumstance of all
1:42:54what's that well it's love
1:42:5624 years
1:42:5810 months
1:43:00two days
1:43:02from the first day of their marriage to
1:43:03the last
1:43:04nancy brophy was grateful
1:43:07she had a husband who was adventurous
1:43:09loving
1:43:10playful
1:43:11and she knew it was a rare gift
1:43:14nancy crampton brophy has always been
1:43:16thoroughly
1:43:17madly
1:43:18crazy in love with daniel brophy and she
1:43:21still is today
1:43:23and dan brophy was in love with her
1:43:25so much so that he talked to both his
1:43:28male and female friends
1:43:30about how much he appreciated his
1:43:31marriage
1:43:32he was a wonderful man
1:43:35and for nancy brophy he was perfect
1:43:38their friends no matter how they knew
1:43:40them
1:43:41considered their marriage to be
1:43:42exemplary
1:43:44even delightful
1:43:50to appreciate the love that nancy brophy
1:43:53had for dan brophy we have to go back a
1:43:55few years
1:43:56it was the winter of 2015.
1:44:00nancy brophy was driving home in the
1:44:02dark
1:44:03ahead of her was another car as she
1:44:06drove she reached up to rub her right
1:44:08eye
1:44:11suddenly she saw nothing at all
1:44:13pitch black
1:44:17when she opened her right eye the
1:44:19taillights were back
1:44:21nancy brophy felt sick to her stomach
1:44:24her mother had suffered from macular
1:44:26degeneration and she knew that this was
1:44:29a bad sign
1:44:30a very very bad sign
1:44:33for months ms brophy was afraid to go to
1:44:35the doctor
1:44:37but finally on
1:44:39july 22nd of 2015
1:44:41ms brophy had an eye exam
1:44:44the doctor told her that she had a large
1:44:47macular hole in her left eye
1:44:50the hole would continue to get bigger
1:44:52and there would be a further loss of
1:44:54vision
1:44:56miss brophy was scheduled for emergency
1:44:58surgery
1:45:00but then a routine a1c test for diabetes
1:45:05caused the anesthesiologist to say no
1:45:09it turned out that nancy brophy's blood
1:45:10sugar levels were sky high
1:45:13and the surgery would be far too
1:45:15dangerous
1:45:16miss brophy was sent home
1:45:19to try to get her diabetes under control
1:45:22and in the weeks that she waited for her
1:45:24blood sugar levels to come down she
1:45:26fretted
1:45:28and worried and on august 4th
1:45:32of 2015 she'd been up all night worrying
1:45:36worrying about the surgery
1:45:38worrying about her husband and at 4 30
1:45:40in the morning
1:45:42she pulled out her laptop and began to
1:45:44write a letter to her husband
1:45:48dearest dan
1:45:50i love you
1:45:51the years we've had together have been
1:45:53the very best of my life
1:45:55it was you who made it possible thank
1:45:58you
1:46:00while words are my life i find myself
1:46:02somewhat at a loss to express how happy
1:46:04you've made me
1:46:06before i met you i understood love in
1:46:09only a superficial way your belief in
1:46:12family and putting one's marriage front
1:46:15and center
1:46:16taught me about true emotion
1:46:20after i saw larry schneider
1:46:22i realized how difficult it would be for
1:46:24you if i died during surgery
1:46:27more than anything i'm afraid your life
1:46:28would be worse because you might leave
1:46:30money on the table that would help you
1:46:32get through this period
1:46:35i'm not worried i'll die on the
1:46:36operating table but one never knows
1:46:39it's better to be prepared
1:46:41and
1:46:42maybe i am just a little bit worried
1:46:45here's what you'll need to do
1:46:47get at least five death certificates
1:46:50from the funeral home
1:46:53ms brophy's letter then describes the
1:46:55life insurance policies that they owned
1:46:58on her life
1:47:00she explained which policies would pay
1:47:02quickly which might take a little more
1:47:04time
1:47:07and then she gave her husband the
1:47:08password to her computer
1:47:10and then she offered him some advice on
1:47:12selling the house
1:47:15there's at least 150 000 to 200 000
1:47:18equity in the house
1:47:20listen to what the realtor tells you
1:47:23spend some insurance money and fix up
1:47:25the yard
1:47:27pack up the house
1:47:28sell it empty
1:47:30if you decide not to sell the house
1:47:32consider a roommate to offset the cost
1:47:35or find a girlfriend
1:47:37i understand you think you can live in a
1:47:39tiny house but you like your stuff way
1:47:41too much to make that work
1:47:45regarding her possessions ms brophy said
1:47:47i can't think of anything i care enough
1:47:49to worry about
1:47:51except the wedding crystal
1:47:53and my jewelry
1:47:55save them for adelaide
1:47:58tell her it's special
1:48:02ms brophy then described the automatic
1:48:04monthly withdrawals
1:48:06that would come from her checking
1:48:07account that dan brophy should
1:48:08immediately end
1:48:10but she flagged two payments that she
1:48:12thought he should continue to make
1:48:15the first came out on the 21st of each
1:48:17month it was 56 dollars to fng
1:48:21she said to dan this is an insurance and
1:48:23a savings account for addie's college
1:48:26fund
1:48:27i hope you'll keep it
1:48:29and on the 23rd of each month
1:48:32266 dollars to americo
1:48:35this is insurance on you
1:48:37continue to pay this
1:48:39you will get all the money back that you
1:48:42paid in about nine years
1:48:46the day before she had surgery nancy
1:48:48brophy printed out the letter
1:48:50she filled in the policy numbers and put
1:48:53the letter inside a bright purple folder
1:48:55labeled dan
1:48:57the next morning ms brophy put the
1:48:58folder on a shared desk in their office
1:49:01and left for her surgery
1:49:09nancy brophy will testify and much of
1:49:11that much of what i share with you this
1:49:13this morning you will hear from her
1:49:15directly
1:49:16but for now let's talk a little bit
1:49:18about life insurance because it's going
1:49:20to be an important part of this case
1:49:22it is true nancy crampton brophy firmly
1:49:25believes in life insurance
1:49:27and her love and concern for her husband
1:49:30was demonstrated in the life insurance
1:49:32courses that she made over the years
1:49:35experts in this case are going to tell
1:49:37you more
1:49:39insurance but let's
1:49:40some of the basics
1:49:42first
1:49:43universal
1:49:44life and whole policies what are they
1:49:48well these are very expensive life
1:49:50insurance policies
1:49:51they're expensive because they
1:49:53build up a cash value over time
1:49:56the owner of the policy can borrow
1:49:59against the cash value
1:50:01the owner of the policy can pay her
1:50:03price with the cash value
1:50:07now the trick here though is that the
1:50:08cost of a whole life or universal life
1:50:11insurance policy can range from between
1:50:135 and 15 times the cost of a term
1:50:17insurance policy with the exact same
1:50:20debt benefit
1:50:22a return of premium policy this is
1:50:25another very expensive policy
1:50:27it is expensive because the insurance
1:50:29company will return all
1:50:32all of your premiums that were paid so
1:50:34long as the insured person reaches a
1:50:36designated age
1:50:40term life insurance
1:50:42this is typically the cheapest form of
1:50:44life insurance because it has no cash
1:50:46value and it only covers a person's life
1:50:49for a specific number of years if a
1:50:52person's only goal
1:50:54is to collect a death benefit for
1:50:56example a hundred thousand dollars at
1:50:59the time of someone's death
1:51:00term insurance is by far the cheapest
1:51:04vehicle the other thing that's important
1:51:06about insurance is legal ownership
1:51:10ownership carries the right to name the
1:51:12beneficiary
1:51:13it carries the right to terminate the
1:51:15policy the right to take a loan against
1:51:18the policy
1:51:19the right to receive the cash value
1:51:22and the right to the entire return of
1:51:24premium if that's the sort of policy it
1:51:26is
1:51:28nancy brophy made dan brophy the legal
1:51:31owner of every policy that insured his
1:51:34life
1:51:37the other thing about insurance is that
1:51:38age matters
1:51:40the older one gets the harder it is to
1:51:43get really good insurance at a
1:51:45reasonable price
1:51:46when one reaches the age of 60 the scope
1:51:49of attractive
1:51:50available policies
1:51:52narrows considerably
1:51:55in this case age is important because
1:51:57nancy brophy
1:51:58was four years older than her husband
1:52:02there were times in their marriage that
1:52:04he was eligible for for policies for
1:52:06which she was not
1:52:09now let's look at the brophy's policies
1:52:13nancy brophy began purchasing life
1:52:15insurance for her and dan
1:52:17decades before dan's death
1:52:19from 1996 until 2018
1:52:23there was insurance covering dance life
1:52:26and there was insurance covering ms
1:52:28brophy's own life
1:52:31ms brophy's
1:52:32purchased the first policies in 1996
1:52:35before she and dan got married
1:52:38the two of them were on their way to
1:52:39hong kong
1:52:41the policies she bought were two
1:52:43identical term policies for a hundred
1:52:45thousand dollars
1:52:48she bought the second set of policies in
1:52:502000
1:52:52right after she and dan had bought their
1:52:54house
1:52:55one policy ensured dan's life for two
1:52:58hundred and fifty thousand dollars
1:53:00and one policy insured nancy's life for
1:53:03two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
1:53:07she ended up keeping the earlier policy
1:53:10so that there would be enough money to
1:53:11cover the mortgage should one of them
1:53:13die
1:53:16in 2007 ms brophy changed careers for a
1:53:19long time she had run a company a
1:53:21catering company called chef du jour
1:53:24as she started to get older and realize
1:53:25what a brutish uh career that would be
1:53:28as she headed into her 60s she sold the
1:53:31catering company and took a job selling
1:53:33life insurance
1:53:35the first company she worked for was a
1:53:36company called american income life so
1:53:40in 2007
1:53:42as an employee of american income life
1:53:44nancy brophy bought two one hundred
1:53:46thousand dollar universal life policies
1:53:49from her employer
1:53:51she kept the two hundred and fifty
1:53:52thousand dollar policy she bought
1:53:54earlier in place
1:53:56so again that there would be enough
1:53:58money to cover their mortgage should one
1:54:00of them die
1:54:03in 2011 ms brophy changed employers so
1:54:06in 2011 she stopped paying on the
1:54:09american income life policies
1:54:11and bought two very similar policies
1:54:13from her new company
1:54:15lincoln heritage
1:54:17again
1:54:18one policy ensured dance life for a
1:54:20hundred thousand dollars
1:54:22and the other insured nancy's life for a
1:54:24hundred thousand dollars
1:54:26why change policies for the same amount
1:54:28of a benefit
1:54:30well part of it had to do with employer
1:54:32employer loyalty
1:54:34a key to selling an insurance policy is
1:54:36the vote of confidence that comes from
1:54:39owning the insurance of the company you
1:54:41represent
1:54:43the other reason though and it was a
1:54:45financial reason and many insurance
1:54:47experts will tell you this
1:54:49miss brophy earned a commission on each
1:54:52policy she sold and then included the
1:54:54policies that she purchased for herself
1:54:57or sold to herself to ensure her life or
1:55:00her husband's life so there was always a
1:55:03financial incentive at least after the
1:55:05first year to change policies from time
1:55:08to time
1:55:11in 2012 ms brophy moved to another
1:55:14brokerage firm called nas
1:55:17again she bought two new policies for
1:55:19her and dan
1:55:21these were mutual of omaha policies for
1:55:23150 000 each
1:55:26these policies were replaced the
1:55:28following years with better policies
1:55:31and that's one of the things i want you
1:55:32to know you will hear throughout this
1:55:35case that ms brophy has bought policies
1:55:38and you'll see that the
1:55:40years but the important thing to pay
1:55:42attention to is whether she's actually
1:55:44paying premiums to continue those
1:55:46policies
1:55:48because
1:55:49many of the policies that the state
1:55:50relies upon were not enforced at the
1:55:53time of dan's debt
1:55:54so one of the things we're each we're
1:55:56going to ask each of you to track is not
1:55:58just whether a policy was purchased but
1:56:01whether the premiums were being paid and
1:56:03the policy was in effect at a given time
1:56:07in 2012 not only did ms brophy buy these
1:56:10two
1:56:11new life insurance policies from her new
1:56:13employer
1:56:14that year she added a very inexpensive
1:56:17accidental debt policy
1:56:19that covered both
1:56:21her and dan as a family plan
1:56:24that was for 250 000 dollars
1:56:28the first time that ms brophy did not
1:56:31buy identical policies was in 2012.
1:56:34this is the year
1:56:37that she bought two foresters policies
1:56:41the policy ensuring her life
1:56:44was for 50 000
1:56:46and the policy insuring dan's life was
1:56:49for 40 000
1:56:51in this case it was dan's gender
1:56:54that was the key
1:56:56for the same premium she could get 50
1:56:59000 on her life and 40 000 on her
1:57:02husband's life
1:57:05in 2013 the oregon colony institute
1:57:08bought a policy for its employees it was
1:57:11a it was a group
1:57:13life insurance policy
1:57:15and each employee was entitled to up to
1:57:19fifty thousand dollars of coverage
1:57:22ms brovi will tell you that this was not
1:57:25a policy that was considered part of the
1:57:28brophy's overall financial plan
1:57:30excuse me
1:57:31why well
1:57:33nancy and dan brophy had witnessed two
1:57:35culinary schools go belly up
1:57:38first it was western culinary institute
1:57:41and then it was cordoned blue
1:57:43you'll hear in this case that actually
1:57:46the oregon culinary institute has gone
1:57:48bankrupt as well
1:57:50it's also true that dan brophy got fired
1:57:52from his job from western
1:57:54and so what they knew is that an
1:57:56employer policy might be here today
1:57:59but it very well could be gone tomorrow
1:58:01and it wasn't something that either one
1:58:03of them wanted to rely upon especially
1:58:06as they got older
1:58:07and insurance was going to be more
1:58:09difficult to replace
1:58:12in june of 2014
1:58:15nancy brophy would turn 64
1:58:18and dan brophy would turn 60.
1:58:23miss brophy knew that age 6 db would
1:58:25would be the very last year that she
1:58:27could get a really good policy on dan
1:58:30grophie's life
1:58:31at lisa wanted a reasonable price
1:58:35so in 2014 nancy bought two policies
1:58:38each covering the other for a hundred
1:58:41thousand dollars
1:58:42but dan's a miracle policy was much much
1:58:46more expensive
1:58:47than a term policy like the one she had
1:58:49on her life
1:58:51our expert will tell you that it likely
1:58:54cost
1:58:55three times as much as a 20-year term
1:58:57policy for a hundred thousand dollars
1:58:59and six times as much as a 10-year term
1:59:03policy for a hundred thousand dollars
1:59:06so why would nancy pay premiums that
1:59:08were six times higher
1:59:11the same
1:59:12death benefit
1:59:14she paid those higher premiums because
1:59:16she was betting that dan brophy would be
1:59:19would reach the age of 78
1:59:22and if dan brophy reached the age of 78
1:59:25he would get all of the premiums that
1:59:27they had paid for that policy over time
1:59:31if dan reached the age of 78
1:59:35on his 78th birthday he would pocket 65
1:59:38000 in cash
1:59:41and
1:59:42his
1:59:43thousand dollar death benefit would
1:59:45continue on
1:59:49dan's return of premium policy
1:59:51was something that wasn't available to
1:59:53ms brokey at the time due to her
1:59:56age you might have noticed this little
1:59:59gold box on it's it says fidelity you
2:00:02can barely see fidelity but trust me
2:00:04that's what it says
2:00:05the fidelity box on the screen
2:00:08this represents a policy that dan brophy
2:00:10bought as a condition of his divorce
2:00:12settlement
2:00:13the beneficiary of this policy was his
2:00:16ex-wife perla
2:00:18this policy stayed in force for many
2:00:20years until the term ended but in 2015
2:00:24fidelity insurance offered then a really
2:00:26cheap renewal i mean we're talking maybe
2:00:28that something that costs 20 bucks a
2:00:30month 30 bucks a month
2:00:32dan renewed that policy and this time
2:00:35made nancy brophy the beneficiary
2:00:38this was a policy that dan continued to
2:00:41pay for
2:00:42out of his own accounts ms brophy did
2:00:44not
2:00:45make any of the payments
2:00:47or control the beneficiary
2:00:51now by november of 2016 nancy brophy was
2:00:5566 years old
2:00:57she was now collecting social security
2:01:00and she was trying to transition into a
2:01:02career of selling medicare
2:01:04until now nancy and dan were pretty
2:01:07equal income earners there were some
2:01:09years where one did better than the
2:01:11other but for the most part they both
2:01:13kind of had their oar in the water and
2:01:15their family income was made out of two
2:01:18pretty equal incomes
2:01:20but in 2016
2:01:22as nancy went on to social security
2:01:25uh and was starting to make a change in
2:01:27her insurance career
2:01:29dan became the primary earner
2:01:32and as the window to affordable
2:01:33insurance would now close for dan who is
2:01:36now 62
2:01:38nancy bought a term policy from american
2:01:41amicable
2:01:42again that purcha that purchase occurred
2:01:44on november 6
2:01:46of 2016.
2:01:50the same policy wouldn't have been
2:01:52affordable on nancy's life due to her
2:01:54age
2:01:55now keep in mind again
2:01:57that nancy brophy earns commissions on
2:02:00every policy she sells
2:02:02so this policy that was purchased in
2:02:04november of 2016
2:02:07paid a commission to the brofis
2:02:09so she and dan brophy had an influx
2:02:12influx of cash
2:02:14just as the holidays near
2:02:20the other thing that happened in 2016
2:02:22actually it really happened in 2015 as
2:02:25they started to put the bones into this
2:02:28nancy's surgery and the whole finding
2:02:31out that she had diabetes and having
2:02:33this thing that was very very scary for
2:02:35her
2:02:36made her think that they needed to get
2:02:37their ducks in a row they needed to
2:02:39figure out what they what they owned
2:02:40what they didn't own they needed to come
2:02:42up with a concrete plan to get into
2:02:44retirement especially because she was
2:02:46four years older
2:02:48so in 2016
2:02:50she and dan brophy began to work in
2:02:53concert to face into retirement
2:02:56both of them were in lines of work that
2:02:58would allow them to kind of turn the
2:02:59faucet down a little bit and maybe
2:03:01unwind gradually
2:03:03but they knew that whatever they did
2:03:05they needed to work together if it was
2:03:07going to be successful
2:03:10dan and brophy's plan involved four
2:03:13parts first nancy brophy would begin to
2:03:16take social security benefits
2:03:19second
2:03:20met
2:03:21nancy would shift from selling life
2:03:23insurance to selling medicare and she
2:03:26and dan could rely on a stream of
2:03:28medicare commissions that would take
2:03:30them well into their 70s maybe longer
2:03:32than that
2:03:34dan brophy planned to keep working at
2:03:36oci for at least another five years
2:03:39and the fourth part of their plan
2:03:41involved the subdivision and sale of
2:03:44their house
2:03:45their hope was to do this sometime in
2:03:472018.
2:03:50well applying for social security
2:03:52revealed an embarrassing fact
2:03:54after throwing a huge wedding for family
2:03:56and friends in 1997
2:03:58neither of the brophies had remembered
2:04:00to file the marriage license
2:04:02the brofis had believed that they were
2:04:04married they'd always filed their taxes
2:04:06as husband and wife
2:04:08but in the eyes of the law they were not
2:04:09legally married
2:04:11dan and nancy joked about having another
2:04:13big party but in the end they settled
2:04:16for a trip to the washington county
2:04:18courthouse
2:04:24the next step toward retirement was for
2:04:25nancy brophy to transition from selling
2:04:28life insurance
2:04:29to sell to a career selling medicare
2:04:32why the change well first of all selling
2:04:35life insurance is really hard especially
2:04:37the way nancy brophy did it it required
2:04:40buying leads from someone else and then
2:04:42literally going out and knocking on
2:04:44people's doors who maybe had expressed
2:04:46some remote interest in buying life
2:04:48insurance and convincing them to buy a
2:04:51policy as you stood on their doorstep
2:04:54if you were lucky enough to
2:04:56sell the policy that day
2:04:58and that client sometime within the
2:05:00first year
2:05:02stopped paying the premiums
2:05:04the salesperson had to give her
2:05:06commission back
2:05:08this has been a huge headache for the
2:05:10brokers over time they had money they'd
2:05:12spent the money and then all of a sudden
2:05:13they had to scrape money together to
2:05:15repay a commission because someone had
2:05:18abandoned their policy
2:05:22it wasn't true of medicare medicare
2:05:25allowed for an income stream
2:05:27that would not just come from from the
2:05:30first
2:05:31time but would carry you through with
2:05:33life insurance people buy one policy
2:05:35maybe one policy in their lifetime
2:05:38but with medicare and for those of you
2:05:40who are younger you might not recognize
2:05:41this medicare can be tricky and it's
2:05:44really nice to have a medicare broker
2:05:46who will keep tabs on you who will
2:05:48figure out what your prescriptions are
2:05:50and who each year will help you kind of
2:05:53get the right policy to meet your needs
2:05:56and if you're that person your client
2:05:58probably only sees you once a year but
2:06:00there's a good chance that you are going
2:06:02to have that client
2:06:03from the first day they become your
2:06:04client until later on when they pass
2:06:07and they no longer need medicare
2:06:10so in 2015 nancy sold about 11 medicare
2:06:14policies
2:06:16in 2016
2:06:18she sold about 44 new medicare policies
2:06:22but she re-enrolled the 11 clients she'd
2:06:25taken the year prior
2:06:27in 2017 she sold about 120 new medicare
2:06:31policies
2:06:33now all of these clients rolled together
2:06:35were clients that she expected to keep
2:06:37year after year after year
2:06:40she expected that if she could make this
2:06:43build up her book of clients over this
2:06:45next few years that she and dan so long
2:06:47as she just made a telephone call or
2:06:49checked in with somebody or just took
2:06:51the time to make sure she knew what
2:06:53their medications were she expected that
2:06:55each one of these clients would be
2:06:57paying commissions
2:06:59long into her and
2:07:01dan's later ages
2:07:03and she if she assumed that they would
2:07:04have a nice little steady income stream
2:07:07to carry them into retirement
2:07:10now dan brophy was enthusiastic about ms
2:07:13brophy's new line of work
2:07:15on the mornings that his wife
2:07:17left to work the medicare kiosk he would
2:07:20pack her a lunch
2:07:22and then invariably he would send her a
2:07:25sweet little encouraging message as she
2:07:28hit the kiosk for example
2:07:30happy happy kiosk days are here again
2:07:33nancy hey
2:07:35i sold the policy just sitting here
2:07:38dan
2:07:39good work keep up the job
2:07:42there are about three years worth of
2:07:44text messages between dan brophy and
2:07:46nancy brophy that the police took off of
2:07:48dan brophy's phone
2:07:50throughout these messages you will see
2:07:52dan offering encouragement to nancy not
2:07:54just with respect to her medicare
2:07:56policies but in every other aspect
2:07:59aspect of her life
2:08:01he also expressed encouragement with
2:08:03respect to the specific retirement plan
2:08:06that the two of them had agreed to
2:08:11now a medicare career has a downside
2:08:14it's a temporary downside but it's
2:08:16definitely a downside
2:08:19when you sell medicare there's a
2:08:20substantial delay between when you make
2:08:23a sale of the policy and when your
2:08:25commissions actually hit your bank
2:08:27account
2:08:28nancy brophy could sell to her heart's
2:08:30content in one year
2:08:32but the brophy's would not get paid any
2:08:34of her earned commissions until the
2:08:36following year
2:08:38dan and nancy both knew
2:08:41that this commission payment structure
2:08:44was going to create a short-term cash
2:08:46flow crunch
2:08:48in the summer and fall
2:08:50but they made adjustments and they
2:08:52planned adjustments to make this work
2:08:55and they both knew it was going to get a
2:08:56lot easier if nancy had the time to
2:08:59build up this book of medicare clients
2:09:02and they no longer had a substantial
2:09:04mortgage
2:09:06so in the summer or fall of 2017 nancy
2:09:09bro brophy did work her tail off at
2:09:11medicare kiosk she traveled all over
2:09:14over the place to develop a client base
2:09:17one day she was in a walgreens walgreens
2:09:19in mcminnville another day she was at a
2:09:22fred meyer in oregon city and on the
2:09:25days that she wasn't sitting in a kiosk
2:09:28she was at the united healthcare office
2:09:30doing phone blitzes
2:09:32after phone blitz as she traveled the
2:09:34client's home she went to the coast she
2:09:37went to hood river she went to bernonia
2:09:39she went to estacada
2:09:41she went everywhere
2:09:43it is this period of time in the summer
2:09:47and fall of 2017
2:09:49that the state focuses on when it tells
2:09:52you that the brophies were desperate
2:09:54that the
2:09:55brophies were broke
2:09:57that the brophy's were feeling a
2:09:59financial catastrophe that caused nancy
2:10:01brophy to murder her husband
2:10:04it is true
2:10:06in august of 2017 money was very tight
2:10:08for the brophies but again dan and nancy
2:10:11came up with a plan that offset the
2:10:14delay in the commission payments
2:10:19as for the third part of the plan dan
2:10:21brophy did keep teaching at oci
2:10:24but in the fall of 2017 he decided that
2:10:27he would teach weekend classes in 2018
2:10:31rather than teaching monday through
2:10:33friday
2:10:35when a longtime friend named tanya
2:10:37medlen offered dan a part-time job at
2:10:40avemer rehabilitation center actually
2:10:42cooking for people
2:10:44dan broofy jumped on it
2:10:46he and nancy agreed that they could use
2:10:48the extra money that he made
2:10:50to pay down their credit card debt and
2:10:53to pay off the second mortgage
2:10:55and it's true that between november of
2:10:572017
2:10:59and june of 2018 when dan died
2:11:02they had significantly reduced their
2:11:04credit card debt and they had
2:11:06significantly paid down the second
2:11:08mortgage
2:11:09so why did dan brophy take a second job
2:11:12part-time work at ademir well dan brophy
2:11:15was on board with the retirement plan
2:11:17that the two of them had worked out
2:11:19mapped out together
2:11:22the fourth part of the baroque
2:11:24transition plan
2:11:25and this is important
2:11:27was a plan to subdivide their large lot
2:11:30and sell all or part of it off
2:11:34the brophy's goal was to have no
2:11:36mortgage in retirement
2:11:40this is a this is a google view
2:11:42of the brokey's property and this was
2:11:45taken after dan's death so you're not
2:11:47really going to see what the property
2:11:49looked like
2:11:51as nan nancy and dan
2:11:53uh entered into this transition plan
2:11:56but on the lower part of this you will
2:11:58see a little blue house and tiny little
2:12:00letters that say three three eight zero
2:12:03there's a garage with a little white car
2:12:05or maybe a truck and a little gray car
2:12:08in the driveway
2:12:09that would be the brophy's property
2:12:12and it runs from southwest 108th avenue
2:12:16all the way back to where you see those
2:12:17little white structures at the back of
2:12:19the property
2:12:21right next to the brophy property if you
2:12:23look at the top of the screen
2:12:25is a lot that was identical in size and
2:12:29shape to the brophys
2:12:31the owner of that property
2:12:33initially just had his house by itself
2:12:35but as he faced retirement
2:12:37he had that lot broken into three
2:12:40taxable lots
2:12:42he made a significant profit by doing
2:12:44that he was able to actually stay in his
2:12:47own home
2:12:49but he had made an excellent financial
2:12:51decision and the brophy's paid attention
2:12:53to that
2:12:54so
2:12:58in june of 2017
2:13:01nancy and dan brooke both talked with a
2:13:03friend of theirs named richard frymark
2:13:06mr frymark is a commercial realtor he
2:13:09doesn't really do residential work
2:13:12but they asked him what it would take to
2:13:13subdivide their property just like their
2:13:16neighborhood mr frymart gave them the
2:13:18name
2:13:19of an engineering firm that could help
2:13:21the brophy create these three taxable
2:13:23lots
2:13:25he did however urge them to get the
2:13:27backyard cleaned up
2:13:29before the property was about evaluated
2:13:31for sale
2:13:35now there was a residential realtor who
2:13:37lived down the street from the brookies
2:13:39he came by to look at the property and
2:13:41he estimated that if they were able to
2:13:44subdivide this triple lot
2:13:46that they could
2:13:48it could result in a sale of seven
2:13:50hundred thousand dollars or maybe even
2:13:52more
2:13:54but the
2:13:55residential realtor a man named paul
2:13:57johnson also warned the brophies
2:14:00that if they wanted to make that kind of
2:14:01a profit they were going to need to
2:14:03clean up the back of their lot
2:14:08during this time richard frymark ran a
2:14:10title report on the brophy's property
2:14:13he was alarmed to see
2:14:15that even though nancy brophy had been
2:14:17on the deed when they first bought the
2:14:19house
2:14:20when nancy and dan had refinanced
2:14:22sometime in the mid 2000s
2:14:25she had some somehow fallen off of the
2:14:27deed
2:14:29so mr frymark sent them the paperwork to
2:14:31correct the problem
2:14:34the evidence will show that um
2:14:36nancy
2:14:38let's see if i can get this to work
2:14:43evidence will show that after she she
2:14:45received this uh paperwork that nancy
2:14:48talked to dan about it dan
2:14:50how's the day treating you nancy
2:14:52okay i left some papers on the table
2:14:54dining room take them to the bank and
2:14:57get them notarized they put my name on
2:14:59the deed which richard says will make
2:15:02the future paperwork easier
2:15:04dan will we go to the bank together
2:15:07nancy
2:15:08you don't need me
2:15:10dan allegedly i would prefer a company
2:15:13money
2:15:16why did did dan brophy agree to go put
2:15:18nancy brophy on the lease in 2017 well
2:15:22he did it because he knew that she was a
2:15:24part owner of the property but he also
2:15:26did it because he was trying to pave the
2:15:28way so that when they sold their home
2:15:30later on things would go more smoothly
2:15:34in other words dan brophy was in on the
2:15:36plan
2:15:40now we talked about this lot and how it
2:15:42didn't look anything like the overhead
2:15:44that you'd seen
2:15:46dan brophy was a gardener he loved
2:15:48gardening he treated this huge this back
2:15:51lot is probably like uh
2:15:53i think the whole lot is about a half
2:15:54acre
2:15:55so the back lot is probably um
2:15:58two-thirds of that
2:15:59dan traded this large backyard like a
2:16:01little mini farm
2:16:03he'd grown up in the country and he he
2:16:05loved having what he called his life
2:16:09science experiments in his backyard
2:16:11now nancy brophy loved that about him
2:16:14she loved that he smelled like the earth
2:16:16but she would have drawn the line at
2:16:18dance chickens
2:16:19and the chickens became a running joke
2:16:21in their marriage
2:16:22dan brophy knew though that that
2:16:24somewhere along the line that property
2:16:26had gotten completely out of control for
2:16:28him
2:16:29he even texted france between 2017 and
2:16:322018
2:16:34describing how overwhelming the project
2:16:36was
2:16:38several witnesses will testify that
2:16:40cleaning up this back lot was a massive
2:16:43massive project
2:16:45the backyard was covered in blackberry
2:16:47bushes that were 12 to 16 feet high
2:16:51dan had buried these big steel barrels
2:16:54and commercial sinks
2:16:56for his various science projects
2:16:59cleaning up the backyard was not
2:17:00something that dan and nancy were going
2:17:02to be able to do alone they could play a
2:17:04part but they both knew that they were
2:17:06going to need professional help and it
2:17:08was going to be expensive
2:17:12the evidence will demonstrate that dan
2:17:13brophy was fully in agreement
2:17:16with paying the money to get this back
2:17:18lock cleaned up
2:17:19so that they could subdivide and sail
2:17:22in september of 2017
2:17:25in the midst of this low cash flow
2:17:27period that he and his wife had
2:17:29anticipated
2:17:30dan brophy took a 35 000 loan against
2:17:33his retirement now dan brophy had done
2:17:35this in the past there was a time when
2:17:37they needed a new roof and they had
2:17:39borrowed against the retirement dan had
2:17:41paid it all back
2:17:42as required and they had agreed that
2:17:45this might be a good time to take that
2:17:47loan again
2:17:48the purpose wasn't just to bring the
2:17:50mortgage due
2:17:51if he if during this cash flow crunch
2:17:54all he wanted to do was bring the or
2:17:56mortgage current he would have taken
2:17:58much less out the goal was both to bring
2:18:01the mortgage current
2:18:02but also to fix up the house
2:18:05because dan knew it was going to be
2:18:06expensive to get the property ready to
2:18:08sell
2:18:13dan asked that they
2:18:15kind of wait until the harvest was
2:18:17behind him in 2017 before they actually
2:18:20brought the landscapers in but in
2:18:21november of 2017
2:18:24nancy brophy began to look for
2:18:26landscapers who were willing to do the
2:18:28work
2:18:29nancy
2:18:30getting the first bid on the yard today
2:18:33dan
2:18:34cool are you home already
2:18:36nancy no he's looking by himself
2:18:40dan
2:18:41okay i'll be home in about a half an
2:18:43hour
2:18:44nancy he may be gone
2:18:46i found the name because it's advertised
2:18:49that he can deal with the blackberry
2:18:50bushes
2:18:53she did get a few bids but the truth is
2:18:54in november of 2017 most of the people
2:18:57who came to look at the property
2:18:59were absolutely unwilling to even make a
2:19:02bid or take on the challenge
2:19:04dan's unique garden was such a huge
2:19:07challenge that they didn't know if they
2:19:09had the equipment to handle it
2:19:11dan with his father's help had buried
2:19:13scores of tubs wine barrels utility
2:19:16sinks all to keep his plants contained
2:19:19because they were buried and not sitting
2:19:21on the top of the ground
2:19:24the removal process required heavier
2:19:26equipment than many landscapers had
2:19:30when they finally hired the dynamic duo
2:19:33of james denney and tamara alva
2:19:36dan affectionately called them the yard
2:19:39warriors
2:19:41the yard warriors will testify in this
2:19:44trial
2:19:44they will testify that both dan and
2:19:47nancy were preparing that house to sell
2:19:50and that dan was very much a part of the
2:19:52plan
2:19:53james denney will testify that he and
2:19:55dan work closely to sift through dan's
2:19:57many possessions in the backyard
2:20:00and decide what would go and what would
2:20:02stay dan was in complete control of that
2:20:04process
2:20:06he had the final say and dan was never
2:20:08irritated or grumpy with james denney in
2:20:11fact james danny got the sense that the
2:20:13unburdening in many ways felt good to
2:20:15dan brophy
2:20:20you'll hear that dan brophy was a
2:20:21collector and over the course of their
2:20:24marriage their long
2:20:25long marriage nancy tolerated dan's
2:20:28habit of collecting she never seemed at
2:20:31least to james danny to be all that
2:20:32annoyed that dan had so much stuff
2:20:35and she expressed kind of an
2:20:37understanding that as long as it took to
2:20:39collect all that stuff
2:20:41it was going to take a little while to
2:20:43uncollect it
2:20:44she was willing to go slowly and to let
2:20:46dan and mr danny sort out the pacing as
2:20:50dan was really
2:20:51willing to let go of things
2:20:54they were working together again
2:20:56to tackle this joint project because it
2:20:59was a project that was easier together
2:21:01than a park
2:21:03the yard warriors started their work
2:21:05cleaning up this backyard in
2:21:08december of 2017.
2:21:11but by may when the brophy's initially
2:21:14planned to subdivide the lot and then
2:21:16market the house
2:21:18the yard warriors weren't even close to
2:21:20having the yard ready to be subdivided
2:21:23and placed on the
2:21:24market but
2:21:26dan and nancy then decided well if we
2:21:28can't make the summer
2:21:30sales season we will shoot for the fall
2:21:33of 2018.
2:21:35so with the sale at the house on hold
2:21:36until the fall
2:21:38dan took the parts that the yard
2:21:40warriors had already cleared cleared out
2:21:42and again built himself little gardens
2:21:45uh
2:21:45in the area that was available but the
2:21:47understanding was that the yard warriors
2:21:49would continue on in their efforts still
2:21:52with the goal of having everything done
2:21:54by the fall
2:21:58dan and nancy have had for many many
2:22:01years a very incredible
2:22:05travel life i think they'd been to three
2:22:07different continents
2:22:0830 different countries i don't know 30
2:22:10countries i might have my numbers wrong
2:22:12but they've been to many many different
2:22:14countries they've been all over the
2:22:15world they've been to hong kong
2:22:17they had visited dan's parents in
2:22:19thailand they'd gone a bunch of
2:22:22different places and it was a huge part
2:22:23of the life that they enjoyed together
2:22:25they really enjoyed travel
2:22:27as nancy was approaching retirement four
2:22:30years older than dan she was starting to
2:22:32think about travel and how much that
2:22:34how much fun that would be
2:22:36as happens with any couple
2:22:38the brophies did have to negotiate some
2:22:41changes in their plan here and there
2:22:43never the the
2:22:45the core of the plan
2:22:47for example there was a time that nancy
2:22:49got really excited about moving to
2:22:50portugal
2:22:52she imagined that she and dan could have
2:22:54a house for not very much money live on
2:22:56their social security in portugal and
2:22:57then they could use that as a place that
2:23:00they could then travel all around europe
2:23:03dan thought that traveling in europe
2:23:05would be interesting but he wasn't
2:23:07particularly interested in being an
2:23:08expat
2:23:10he wasn't sure he'd have enough to do
2:23:12and he thought that portugal might be
2:23:14too hot
2:23:16well they talked about it and you know
2:23:18they both knew that they would miss
2:23:19dan's family terribly so they
2:23:22compromised
2:23:23they decided that they would stay in
2:23:25portland indefinitely
2:23:27and they would simply build more travel
2:23:29into their life
2:23:30so beginning in 2017 they began to
2:23:33travel more frequently
2:23:35in 2017 dan brovi actually joined his
2:23:38wife on a cruise filled with romance
2:23:40riders
2:23:41i don't know how many guys were there
2:23:43besides dan
2:23:44but they enjoyed themselves
2:23:47in the summer of 2017 the brophy
2:23:49celebrated their their june birthdays
2:23:52with a week at the beach
2:23:54dan and nancy both had june birthday so
2:23:56each year the celebration of birthdays
2:23:59happened together and typically they
2:24:01would get away
2:24:03in january of 2018 dan and nancy spent a
2:24:07week at a romantic bed and breakfast in
2:24:09british columbia
2:24:12in march of 2018 they took another
2:24:16romantic trip to monterey and took a
2:24:18couple of cooking classes
2:24:22and at the time dan brophy died
2:24:24nancy and dan were planning a summer
2:24:26trip to mount rushmore
2:24:28a trip that dan had already always
2:24:30wanted to make
2:24:36one of the lovely things about the
2:24:38brophy marriage was that while
2:24:40they had many many interests that
2:24:42overlapped they loved cooking they loved
2:24:44travel they loved each other's sense of
2:24:46humor but they also had interests that
2:24:49were their very own
2:24:50dan brophy loved mushroom hunting he
2:24:53loved his chickens and he loved living
2:24:55life as a science project
2:24:57nancy brophy loved writing
2:25:00you will hear from several of ms
2:25:02brophy's writer friends
2:25:04you will learn that research especially
2:25:07hands-on research is a big part of many
2:25:10writers lives
2:25:11to support her riding ms brophy has
2:25:13spent good money
2:25:15on night vision goggles
2:25:17a telescope
2:25:19law enforcement quality handcuffs
2:25:22high-powered binoculars art supplies
2:25:25antique glass doorknobs and lots and
2:25:28lots of locks
2:25:31miss brophy's not alone
2:25:33other writers splurge too you'll hear
2:25:35from at least two writers one bought a
2:25:37giant crossbow that is as tall as i am
2:25:41to support her writing
2:25:43another writer delaila
2:25:45writes victorian romance
2:25:48for years delilah searched for a
2:25:50chastity belt that she could afford
2:25:54and delilah will assure you that was not
2:25:56to use with her husband
2:25:59instead she wanted to know how the
2:26:02hinges felt she wanted to know what it
2:26:04sounded like when the key was inserted
2:26:06she wanted to feel how heavy it was
2:26:13miss brophy's writer friends will
2:26:16also describe ms brophy's immersive
2:26:19writing process which they have
2:26:21witnessed firsthand
2:26:22several writers will tell you that they
2:26:24have been at writing
2:26:26retreats with miss brophy and that her
2:26:28her practice is to literally place
2:26:30herself in a corner she'll stare at the
2:26:33ceiling or stare at a wall and no one
2:26:35hears from her for a couple of hours
2:26:38when she's finally jolted back into the
2:26:40group presence she typically can come
2:26:42out with a story that includes
2:26:44characters scenes
2:26:46chapters her writer friends were amazed
2:26:48that she could literally create an
2:26:50entire novel sometimes in her brain as
2:26:53she stared into space without once
2:26:56putting her pen to paper
2:26:59other writers will talk about nancy's
2:27:01creative process more generally
2:27:03they will tell you that one of the
2:27:04things nancy really liked was these
2:27:06drives these long drives that she had
2:27:08had to take as part of her medicare
2:27:10career
2:27:11she loved driving because that was when
2:27:13her brain was the most creative she
2:27:15could drive out to mcminnville and have
2:27:18several new ideas for her writing by the
2:27:20time that she got there
2:27:25shift again
2:27:27firearms
2:27:30understand what happened in this case
2:27:32you need to take yourself back to 2017
2:27:36in the united states of america
2:27:38that was a year that our entire country
2:27:40was talking about guns
2:27:42nancy brophy was certainly a part of
2:27:44that conversation
2:27:46listening carefully to the bellicose
2:27:48tone of our country's discourse
2:27:52nancy started to have a shift in her
2:27:54thinking
2:27:56nancy brophy did not grow up with guns
2:27:58her family does not like guns
2:28:01she came from a family of lawyers and
2:28:03she'd spent her college years
2:28:05advocating for very progressive causes
2:28:08guns were not her thing
2:28:10even when she was married to a police
2:28:12officer in the 70s she showed no
2:28:14interest in guns
2:28:16but she had friends who had guns
2:28:19and they were law-abiding and at a
2:28:21family gathering in november of 2017 ms
2:28:24brophy realized that all of dan brophy's
2:28:26had family had guns dan's brother had a
2:28:29gun dan's dad had a gun dan's son
2:28:32nathaniel owned several firearms in fact
2:28:34nathaniel had even built an ar-15 on his
2:28:38own from a gun kit
2:28:40to her great surprise she learned that
2:28:42dan brophy's mother owned a stun gun
2:28:462017 was a year also of numerous mass
2:28:50shootings especially school shootings
2:28:54and nancy brophy paid close attention to
2:28:56that news
2:28:59on november 16th
2:29:01of 2017
2:29:03[Music]
2:29:04a nutty guy named kevin neal
2:29:07shot his wife and four of her friends
2:29:09with a homemade gun
2:29:12then mr neal tried unsuccessfully to
2:29:14enter
2:29:15an elementary school to randomly shoot
2:29:18at children
2:29:20the crime occurred in california but it
2:29:22quickly became national news
2:29:25mr neal could not lawfully purchase a
2:29:27firearm because he had a restraining
2:29:29order out on him but he found a way
2:29:32around that by building himself his own
2:29:34gun from parts
2:29:37the new york times and several other
2:29:39mage
2:29:40news outlets covered this story
2:29:43noting that gun kits were legal
2:29:46and that some states had begun to
2:29:47consider limitations on their sale
2:29:50now again in 2017
2:29:53the atf and federal authorities made it
2:29:56clear that they had no interest in
2:29:58regulating gun kits themselves or gun
2:30:01building by individuals but they said
2:30:03they would strictly impose any effort to
2:30:06sell a gun without a registration
2:30:09once it had been constructed and made
2:30:11operable
2:30:13after reading this news story about
2:30:16mr uh kevin neal
2:30:19nancy started to think about writing a
2:30:21book that flipped the script
2:30:24on a guy like that
2:30:26the story she had in her mind was about
2:30:28a woman in an abusive relationship
2:30:31in the story
2:30:32the woman is afraid to leave her partner
2:30:35but she's also afraid that she's going
2:30:36to get killed that she stays
2:30:39the woman cannot legally buy a gun
2:30:41because she'd been hospitalized for
2:30:42depression as a young woman
2:30:47a related new york times article ms
2:30:49brophy read at the time included links
2:30:52to the online gun sites that had been
2:30:54cited in the article
2:30:56so in late november of 2017
2:31:00ms brophy used those links
2:31:02including one to a place called
2:31:05ghostgunner.net
2:31:07to see what was there
2:31:09ms brophy was fascinated with her
2:31:11storyline and she went back to those
2:31:13sites several times over the next few
2:31:15weeks
2:31:17so as to better describe her protagonist
2:31:19experience
2:31:20miss brophy considered whether she
2:31:22should buy a gun kit and put it together
2:31:25as she wrote the book
2:31:29on christmas eve
2:31:31after a couple of glasses of wine
2:31:33ms brophy splurged and she bought
2:31:35herself a gun kit from one of those two
2:31:38sites in the new york times article
2:31:40ghostguns.com
2:31:44she thought of the purchase as kind of a
2:31:45jigsaw puzzle where she could put a gun
2:31:47together from pieces
2:31:50that week after new year's dan and nancy
2:31:53brophy went to sook harbor british
2:31:55columbia for a romantic getaway
2:31:58dan put a hold on their mail
2:32:01when they returned to portland dan went
2:32:03to the post office to pick up the mail
2:32:06he brought the gun kit home
2:32:08miss brophy was excited to open it but
2:32:11soon realized that putting a gun kit
2:32:13together was not as she had imagined
2:32:16she asked dan do we have a drill press
2:32:18dan laughton
2:32:20assured her that they did not
2:32:22the gun kit kind of was stowed into the
2:32:25closet but nancy brophy continued to
2:32:27work on this story
2:32:28as she continued to develop this
2:32:30storyline she realized that she could
2:32:32not machine a gun kit
2:32:34certainly not the one she'd purchased
2:32:36but she wondered whether a better puzzle
2:32:38would be to analyze the actual gun parts
2:32:43during this time period nancy brophy
2:32:45talked to several of her writer friends
2:32:48about this story
2:32:49she told some of them that she had
2:32:51bought a gun kit to build the gun from
2:32:53parts as she wrote the story
2:32:55her more knowledgeable friends laughed
2:32:57and told her that buying a gun kit was a
2:32:59stupid idea
2:33:00she agreed
2:33:02acknowledging that she had learned that
2:33:04lesson too late
2:33:07as she continued to develop the story
2:33:09line miss brophy wondered whether a
2:33:11better puzzle would be to analyze the
2:33:13actual gun parts
2:33:18she continued to research guns and gun
2:33:21parts
2:33:22but
2:33:23much of the research that she did
2:33:26coincided with her in anticipation of
2:33:29writer events
2:33:31the other truth is the more she read
2:33:33about guns the more she wondered whether
2:33:36she and dan shouldn't own a gun
2:33:38nancy mentioned to a friend that she
2:33:40wished dan would take a gun with him
2:33:42when he went mushroom hunting
2:33:44dan hunted mushrooms alone
2:33:47deep in the woods and he'd often told
2:33:49her that mushroom hunting could be
2:33:50pretty dangerous because people were so
2:33:52territorial about their mushroom spots
2:33:56ben didn't take the risk as seriously as
2:33:58nancy brophy did
2:34:02but she worried
2:34:04anyway
2:34:05on january 31st ms brophy met with a
2:34:07writer friend during the day
2:34:09and she talked about her story that
2:34:11evening she went back to the same sites
2:34:14and again researched gun kits
2:34:17the next morning on february 1st ms
2:34:20brophy wrote woke up to a follow-up news
2:34:22story about the las vegas mass shooter
2:34:26you might remember he was the guy who
2:34:28leaned out of a casino window and shot
2:34:30all the people who are attending a
2:34:32concert down below
2:34:34this was a follow-up story but it's one
2:34:36that she'd been following for some time
2:34:38after reading that story that night
2:34:41miss brophy researched gun stores
2:34:44in oregon
2:34:48on february 14
2:34:50there was a mass shooting in florida
2:34:53this is the shooting at the marjory
2:34:54stoneman douglas high school
2:34:58the next day nancy brophy researched how
2:35:01much does a glock 17 cost
2:35:04gun safety classes
2:35:06and the portland expo gun show
2:35:11nancy brophy lobbied dan brophy again
2:35:15this time her husband acquiesced and
2:35:17agreed she should go buy a gun
2:35:19the next day ms brophy withdrew 400 from
2:35:23her checking account
2:35:24now she knew from her research that a
2:35:26gun was likely to cost over six hundred
2:35:29dollars
2:35:30but dan brophy had agreed to split the
2:35:32cost
2:35:34on february 17th
2:35:36ms brophy went to the gun show she
2:35:38presented her legislation
2:35:41and bought a fully legal fully
2:35:43registered handgun
2:35:48when she brought the gun home dan looked
2:35:50it over he wasn't really sure they were
2:35:52gun people
2:35:53dad wasn't excited about carrying the
2:35:55gun in fact he told ms brophy that he
2:35:58had absolutely no interest in packing he
2:36:00when he went mushroom hunting
2:36:03truth is nancy never carried the gun
2:36:05either
2:36:06in fact when the oregon state
2:36:07criminalist later examined that gun he
2:36:10said it was in like new condition
2:36:13the cleaning brush appears to have never
2:36:15been used
2:36:16the manual and the cleaning kit were
2:36:18still sealed
2:36:21dan brophy thought maybe they should
2:36:22sell the gun
2:36:24nancy brophy thought about taking the
2:36:26gun apart
2:36:27but she agreed with dan that it would
2:36:28probably be better to keep it like new
2:36:30they both thought they might be able to
2:36:32sell it somewhere down the road someday
2:36:35nancy had actually done some research
2:36:37and realized that those
2:36:38private sales
2:36:40were more complicated in the state of
2:36:42oregon
2:36:44we will prove
2:36:46that when
2:36:47oh let me take you back a minute
2:36:50about two days after
2:36:52uh she brought this gun home
2:36:55and they decided that dan really wasn't
2:36:57gonna carry it and had some real doubts
2:37:00about whether they were gun people
2:37:02nancy brookie went back to these sites
2:37:05that she'd been visiting and again these
2:37:07sites are typically the ghost gun type
2:37:09sites and she's already purchased a
2:37:12ghost gun but she went back to the sites
2:37:14and this time a pop-up or some kind of
2:37:16an ad for a slide uh came onto her
2:37:20screen and she went ahead and bought it
2:37:23she assumed that it might be easier to
2:37:24take a slide apart and probably more
2:37:27cost effective than to try to take this
2:37:28gun apart that she and dan were trying
2:37:31to keep in new condition
2:37:34we'll prove that when that slide was
2:37:36delivered to the brophy home it was dan
2:37:38brophy who took delivery
2:37:41nancy brophy was in mcminnville selling
2:37:43medicare
2:37:45later miss rovi watched a youtube
2:37:47showing how to disassemble the slide
2:37:58let's shift our focus again to the week
2:38:00before dan brophy died
2:38:03nancy brophy has always had several
2:38:05stories living in her head but she also
2:38:07had several partially or completely
2:38:09written books
2:38:11she had been sending pitches to
2:38:12publishers for years
2:38:14and on may 25th a really exciting email
2:38:17popped into her inbox
2:38:20a publisher was interested in the first
2:38:23book of a trilogy she'd written called
2:38:25witches a love story over the next
2:38:28several days nancy brophy was living
2:38:31constantly with her characters from this
2:38:33book the publisher was interested in her
2:38:36characters phaedra and celestial and
2:38:38hope
2:38:39were ever present in her brain
2:38:42the night before dan died
2:38:45nancy brophy didn't sleep well she'd
2:38:47been up all night thinking about her
2:38:49characters and a problem with the plot
2:38:51in this story
2:38:54when she was later interviewed by police
2:38:56nancy
2:38:57having already determined that the
2:38:59person who had been shot was her husband
2:39:02something she gleaned by just looking at
2:39:04the sad faces of the people staring at
2:39:07her as she got
2:39:08near oci
2:39:10she told the police that dan got up
2:39:12around 4 am to feed the chickens and
2:39:14walk the dogs
2:39:16this was his usual morning routine
2:39:18she said that when he came upstairs to
2:39:20shower she talked to him about a leak
2:39:23under the sink
2:39:25she will tell you
2:39:27that she believes that sometime between
2:39:296 and 6 30 she did what she would
2:39:31normally do
2:39:32on the morning she doesn't go to work
2:39:35she left her night shirt on
2:39:37she added a pair of tights and some
2:39:39flip-flops
2:39:40and she drove to the starbucks
2:39:42drive-through to get her copy
2:39:44she will tell you that she was still
2:39:46fairly fully immersed in her story and
2:39:49she drove
2:39:50thinking about a detail and then
2:39:51stopping to briefly jot down her thought
2:39:53and then driving some more as she worked
2:39:55out the next detail
2:39:59you'll hear evidence from two
2:40:01psychologists
2:40:02they will explain to you what can happen
2:40:04to the human memory when a person
2:40:06suffers a traumatic shock
2:40:08learning that one's husband has been
2:40:10murdered
2:40:12is perhaps one of the most extreme
2:40:14shocks that any one of us can imagine
2:40:16it's the emotional equivalent of being
2:40:18hit by a freight train one didn't see
2:40:20coming
2:40:22there is literally a chemical flood to
2:40:24the brain that disrupts the neurological
2:40:26coding and storage of memories
2:40:30the disruption the chemical disruption
2:40:33will affect a person immediately but it
2:40:35can also leave large memory holes for
2:40:38events that happen before during and
2:40:41after a traumatic event
2:40:45one of the psychologists
2:40:47dr warford is also an expert in domestic
2:40:50violence
2:40:51and the components of a healthy marriage
2:40:54she's reviewed the discovery in this
2:40:56case including the police interviews
2:40:59and the last three years of text
2:41:02messages between dan and nancy brophy
2:41:06dr warford is also interviewed and
2:41:08conducted a battery of psychological
2:41:10tests on ms brophy
2:41:12dr warford's professional opinion
2:41:14will support a core defense fact
2:41:18nancy brophy and dan brophy had an
2:41:20unusually healthy and vibrant marriage
2:41:24right up until the very end
2:41:28nancy's marriage was so healthy
2:41:30that the younger people that they
2:41:32mentored wanted a marriage just like
2:41:34theirs
2:41:35nancy's brophy nancy brophy's niece
2:41:37susan estrada
2:41:39lived with the brophies for well a few
2:41:41different times but once for about a
2:41:43year
2:41:44she told the police they had a great
2:41:46marriage they had one of those rare few
2:41:48relationships that made me think hey
2:41:50marriage might not be a bad idea
2:41:53another witness and admired dan and
2:41:55nancy's relationship so much that she
2:41:57said
2:41:58i knew i wanted a broafy marriage for
2:42:01myself
2:42:03a friend who was in their home weekly
2:42:05would say i would have loved to have had
2:42:07a marriage like theirs
2:42:11nancy bromi's very best friends the
2:42:13women who have known her some of them
2:42:15since college but most of them for
2:42:17decades will tell you that nancy brophy
2:42:20was crazy about dan brophy and that
2:42:23never changed
2:42:25just a sample of the testimony you'll
2:42:26hear at trial
2:42:28dan was perfect for nancy and nancy knew
2:42:30it
2:42:31nancy always talked sweetly about dan
2:42:34whenever i was around nancy it was dan
2:42:36ness dan matt
2:42:38nancy remind admired and respected dan
2:42:42you could see that every time they were
2:42:43together
2:42:44nancy described dan as the smartest man
2:42:47she knew she was so proud of him
2:42:50it was like they had been married for a
2:42:52hundred years
2:42:53each of them talk so positively about
2:42:55the other
2:42:57they accepted each other
2:42:58they supported each other
2:43:00they obviously enjoyed each other's
2:43:02company
2:43:05nancy's very closest personal friends
2:43:07will tell you that in all of the time
2:43:09they have known nancy brophy she has
2:43:12never
2:43:13never badmouthed her husband
2:43:15i've known nancy for donkey years and
2:43:17she has never had a harsh word for dan
2:43:20if nancy complained about dan it was
2:43:22quote in the way a happy woman does
2:43:25for example she complained about dan's
2:43:28noisy chickens
2:43:29but she always gathered her leftovers
2:43:31from lunch to take home to them
2:43:35even bought down a chicken suit as part
2:43:37of their running joke it cracked him up
2:43:39and he enjoyed dressing up in it
2:43:42nancy told her friends the things about
2:43:44dan that end up driving you a little bit
2:43:47nuts
2:43:48are also the most enticing
2:43:51that never changed
2:43:54nancy brophy knew that she was very very
2:43:57blessed to have the marriage that she
2:43:59did and so she nurtured it
2:44:02for years at writer conferences nancy
2:44:04brophy talked to dan every night
2:44:07her roommates at those conferences often
2:44:09heard her tell him i love you
2:44:11anyone who claims that nancy's
2:44:13relationship to dan had changed is just
2:44:16wrong
2:44:19even little things will demonstrate that
2:44:21truth
2:44:23on may 4th
2:44:25less than a month before dan died
2:44:28nancy was at the sylvia beach hotel for
2:44:30a writer's event after dinner she went
2:44:33upstairs to call her husband
2:44:35she left him a sweet voice message that
2:44:37was still on his phone when he died
2:44:40hey we made it uh this has turned out to
2:44:43be a really similar group
2:44:45and uh we're seeing the hemingway room
2:44:48the uh
2:44:50uh the
2:44:53the animals weren't as bad first off
2:44:55they're done with uh either books or
2:44:57newsprint and so they're trying to pay
2:44:58for mache issues they're really kind of
2:45:01crazy so i'm not as offended by that our
2:45:03windows open we can get a breeze from
2:45:05the coast
2:45:09but call me when you get this thanks bye
2:45:14sorry folks i have no control over the
2:45:15volume but um in any event she left this
2:45:18dan the same kind of message that she'd
2:45:19left him a thousand times
2:45:21later he called her and they did have a
2:45:23chance to chat more
2:45:25the fact is though literally a month
2:45:27before dan died
2:45:29dan and nancy brophy were doing the
2:45:31lovely kind things that they'd always
2:45:33done for each other they were staying in
2:45:35touch with each other they were telling
2:45:37each other about their days in fact
2:45:39while nancy was at the sylvia beach
2:45:41hotel one of the things that she said to
2:45:42her friends after they had gone to a
2:45:44little hole in the wall restaurant
2:45:47somewhere at the beach was that she
2:45:49could not wait to tell dan brophy about
2:45:51this restaurant it was the kind of place
2:45:52that he would love
2:45:54and she was excited as they scooted back
2:45:56to the hotel
2:45:58to share this new discovery with her
2:46:00husband
2:46:04the states say that states suggest that
2:46:06nancy brophy's life was going to get a
2:46:07lot better when dan was gone they're
2:46:10wrong nancy was lost after dan was
2:46:13killed her friends will tell you that
2:46:14she sounded very confused
2:46:17it was a it was as though the earth had
2:46:19fallen away from her feet
2:46:22nancy was overwhelmed
2:46:24a friend says nancy was very unnancy
2:46:28after dan died she appeared totally
2:46:30blank
2:46:31she was in shock
2:46:34we saw her cry and i've only seen her
2:46:36tear up one other time
2:46:38she's a southern raised woman and that
2:46:40stiff upper lip is paramount
2:46:43to see her cry was extremely rare
2:46:45she apologized to us for crying she was
2:46:47embarrassed
2:46:49but she was grief-stricken she was in
2:46:51total shock
2:46:56then sudden death also upended the
2:46:58brophy's plan to legally subdivide this
2:47:01lot for a larger profit
2:47:04while they had managed to get nancy on
2:47:06the deed dan was the only one on the
2:47:08mortgage
2:47:09and since nancy was almost 68 years old
2:47:12it was very unlikely that wells fargo
2:47:15would agree to add her to the mortgage
2:47:18after dan died miss brophy talked with
2:47:20richard frymark again
2:47:22he told her about a likely problem
2:47:24if the bank learned that its sole note
2:47:27holder had died it was likely to call
2:47:30the entire note due
2:47:33this fact had nancy brophy scrambling to
2:47:36get the house cleaned up and sold before
2:47:39wells fargo got wind of dan brophy's
2:47:41death
2:47:42the bank would be treated fairly but so
2:47:44would she
2:47:45subdividing the lot was now just too
2:47:47lengthy of a process to complete she
2:47:49simply needed to get that backyard
2:47:51cleaned up as best she could
2:47:53sell the house or sell the house as
2:47:55quickly as possible and pay off the no
2:48:00she also really wasn't ready for dan's
2:48:01death because the loop will was lost the
2:48:04friends who are with her in the time
2:48:06after this will tell you that there was
2:48:08huge chaos and panic over the fact that
2:48:10nancy brophy could not find the wills
2:48:12that she and dan had uh
2:48:14put together several years before
2:48:17finally maybe a month
2:48:19even longer after dan's death jack
2:48:21brophy came to the house with some
2:48:23friends from the church
2:48:25they were trying to clean out a garage
2:48:27that had been filled to the gills with
2:48:30some of dan's collectibles
2:48:32and in the in the very back of the box
2:48:35in in back of the garage in a box
2:48:38jack brophy found the will
2:48:40nancy brophy was so relieved
2:48:43the other thing that was lost that
2:48:44summer was that medicare enrollment
2:48:46season that was going to come in 2018
2:48:49that was the year that nancy thought
2:48:51that she could maybe sell another 200
2:48:53policies and build the book
2:48:55that would carry everything forward she
2:48:58just didn't have the energy
2:49:00she was overwhelmed she was sad and she
2:49:02was in no condition to sell medicare
2:49:07murder can be a huge complication when
2:49:10it comes to life insurance at the very
2:49:12very best a murder will seriously
2:49:14seriously delay
2:49:16the payment of insurance proceeds
2:49:19i tell you this because the state
2:49:21suggests that what what caused this
2:49:23murder
2:49:24was this intense
2:49:26acute
2:49:28financial ruin
2:49:30that was raining down on the brophies at
2:49:33the time of dan's death i think the
2:49:35evidence will show and certainly our
2:49:37forensic accountant will suggest to you
2:49:39that by june of 2018
2:49:41that simply wasn't true
2:49:43by june of
2:49:452018 the brovies were in pretty good
2:49:48financial shape and
2:49:49as of june 2nd
2:49:51they probably between both of their
2:49:53accounts could have put their hands on
2:49:55ten thousand dollars cash
2:49:57if they needed to
2:49:59but as i said
2:50:00murder can be a complicating process ms
2:50:03brophy especially
2:50:05as she talked to different insurance
2:50:07companies told her friends
2:50:09it would probably be years before these
2:50:11claims were resolved
2:50:14the state makes much about a call that
2:50:16ms brophy made on june 6 i believe
2:50:20what
2:50:22you'll learn during trial is that after
2:50:24she had talked with the police the
2:50:25police urged her to talk to someone who
2:50:27was what they called a tips counselor
2:50:30the tips counselor gave ms brophy a book
2:50:33and at the back of the book was a little
2:50:35checklist about what to do in a time
2:50:37like this
2:50:39one of the things on the checklist in
2:50:40addition to finding a will
2:50:42was to try to figure out exactly which
2:50:44insurance policies you had and to begin
2:50:46the process
2:50:48and as i say it was never going to be
2:50:51too soon to begin the process because
2:50:53when someone's murdered
2:50:56what we know is that the process can
2:50:58take a long long time
2:51:00then sudden death created other problems
2:51:02with the life insurance too remember
2:51:04that very expensive return of premium
2:51:06policy that dan bought betting dan that
2:51:09would live to be age 78 the one she paid
2:51:12three times or six times the premiums
2:51:14for
2:51:16well that lost a huge part of its value
2:51:18because dan brophy died too young
2:51:22remember the 250 000 policy she bought
2:51:26in november of 2016.
2:51:28well that was still within the
2:51:30contestability period
2:51:32in the dearest dan letter nancy brophy
2:51:34talks about a guy
2:51:36named schneider i've already always
2:51:38forgotten his name but she says you know
2:51:40when i saw him i worried about you
2:51:43well what had happened with mr schneider
2:51:45is that he had purchased a life
2:51:47insurance policy on his life and his
2:51:49wife's life
2:51:51and then
2:51:52miss brophy shortly before she wrote the
2:51:55dearest dan letter to her husband
2:51:57mr schneider had called and explained
2:51:59that his wife had died within the
2:52:00two-year contestability period
2:52:03and that he was having a heck of a time
2:52:06in his fight with the insurance company
2:52:08to get them to pay the claim
2:52:11if dan brophy had died on november 6th
2:52:14of 2018
2:52:17just five months after the day he did
2:52:19die
2:52:20this would have been a much easier
2:52:21insurance claim to make
2:52:27while dan brophy was alive nancy brophy
2:52:30had a great listener
2:52:31a wonderful lover
2:52:33a consummate chef
2:52:35and an entertaining travel partner most
2:52:38of all she had an all-around best friend
2:52:41she shared her life with a man who never
2:52:43failed to make her laugh
2:52:46nancy brophy was blessed with a true
2:52:48partner who always looked out for her
2:52:50and always looked forward to a future
2:52:52with her
2:52:53as she did him after you've heard all
2:52:57the evidence in this case
2:52:59we are certain that you will understand
2:53:01that nancy brophy did not kill her
2:53:04husband
2:53:05thank you
2:53:11all right we're going to take our lunch
2:53:13break which is typically an hour and a
2:53:15half so we'll have what we'll plan to go
2:53:18back on the record at
2:53:22i so it would be ten till two
2:53:25uh but miss lou will give you some
2:53:26instructions on when to be back here at
2:53:28the actual jury room but with that we'll
2:53:31take our lunch recess
2:54:42you

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