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AP-PA--Pennsylvania News Digest, PA

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — A woman has been convicted of third-degree murder in the shooting death of her boyfriend in northeastern Pennsylvania more than four years ago. Jurors in Luzerne County deliberated for just over two hours Friday before convicting Jessica Alinsky in the September 2011 slaying of Matthew Gailie at the couple's Hazle Township home. Alinsky, 32, maintained that Gailie, 34, shot himself during a dispute, but prosecutors alleged that she staged the crime scene to make it appear that Gailie shot himself. Alinsky bowed her head and wiped away tears as the verdict was announced by the jury, which also convicted her of evidence-tampering. She sobbed as she was escorted from the courthouse. Defense attorney Demetrius Fannick vowed an appeal of the verdict. Earlier in the week, he asked for a mistrial, saying testimony by an expert witness conflicted with his previous description of the case at a 2014 police seminar. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola said the verdict meant that the family of the Gailie, a corrections officer at State Correctional Institution Frackville, finally had "finality once and for all, and they needed it." "It's all overwhelming and hard to believe it's over," Gailie's sister, Ariana Gailie, said after the verdict. "We had an amazing team of people who worked so hard to get justice for Matt and we can never thank them enough." Alinsky pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the case in 2014 but withdrew the plea the following month, telling reporters that she would never have hurt the victim. She did not take the stand in her own defense, and Fannick acknowledged that it would have been difficult to have her testify because of the cross-examination she would face on statements she had given police.

Woman convicted of 3rd-degree murder in boyfriend's death