WAYCROSS, Ga. – A jury on Tuesday found Betty Jacobs guilty of killing her ex-husband at his Waycross doctor's office two years ago.
The 68-year-old Betty Jacobs was convicted of murder in the Aug. 24, 2007, shooting of L. Davis Jacobs.
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Officers said the physician was shot twice inside his ophthalmology practice on Lister Street while patients and staff were present.
Jacobs testified last week that she had suffered years of abuse by her husband. She said she shot her ex-husband in self-defense when he threatened her with a claw hammer after she asked him for $100,000 owed her from their divorce settlement.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the couple had a rocky relationship, but said she killed her husband because she was unhappy, not abused.
"I think, truly, that he was the person who was battered," District Attorney Nick Currie said told Channel 4's Dan Leveton. "She was a very controlling person."
After a week of testimony followed by arguments on Friday, the Tift County jury took the holiday weekend off and began deliberations at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Five hours later, they returned the guilty verdict.
Betty Jacobs showed no reaction when the verdict was read, but the couple's son said his emotions will always be torn.
"It's kind of surreal. You sit there and you say, 'If someone killed your father, how you would feel about that person?'" Davis Jacobs Jr. said. "But then, when it's your mother, you're also on the other side going,'This is the person who raised me; this is the person who cared for me when I was young. How did this happen?'"
Jacobs was sentenced to life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 30 years.
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