Jury convicts Las Vegas woman of murder in husband’s death

A Las Vegas woman was convicted Monday of first-degree murder and burglary charges in the 2010 killing of her husband.

Clark County prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Brandy Stutzman, 37. If jurors decide she deserves capital punishment, she would be the only woman on death row in Nevada.

Jurors deliberated roughly four hours before finding Stutzman guilty. She showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

The same panel that decided the woman’s guilt is slated to reconvene Wednesday for a penalty hearing, which may include testimony from her family.

Jeremiah Merriweather previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and burglary in the case. Prosecutors argued that Stutzman persuaded Merriweather to kill her husband, Joe, who was stabbed 15 times and left for dead in his northern valley home in November 2010.

Brandy Stutzman’s lawyer Josh Tomsheck argued that Merriweather, who was 19 at the time, killed Joe Stutzman, 32, on his own because he loved Brandy Stutzman and her then 5-year-old son.

Prosecutors said Brandy Stutzman orchestrated at least three plans to have her husband killed and often talked about life without him among teenagers she plied with alcohol and drugs while Joe Stutzman worked overseas as a military aircraft mechanic.

Merriweather testified last week that he thought he would have a better relationship with Brandy Stutzman if her husband was “out of the picture.”

He also told jurors that he started to second-guess the plan to kill, but ultimately carried it out because Brandy Stutzman wanted it done. He thought she and her son were being abused, and that he could provide for them.

Merriweather, who pleaded guilty in February 2015, is awaiting sentencing and faces 21 years to life in prison.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.