Husband convicted in Nevada official’s death

RENO, Nev. – The husband of the late state Controller Kathy Augustine was convicted Friday of killing her by injecting her with a paralyzing drug that FBI experts detected in her system months after her death.

Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse, was convicted of first-degree murder two days after attempting suicide for the second time since Augustine’s death last July. He was sentenced later Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of 20 years.

Higgs, 43, stood still as the verdict was read in Washoe County District Court, hands clasped in front of him, eyes toward the floor. Relatives of Augustine clapped their hands together once.

Higgs has said he loved Augustine and blamed the stress of her political career for their failed marriage and her ultimate death. At the time she died she was running for state treasurer as a Republican, trying to salvage a once-promising political career after being censured as controller by state lawmakers, but not removed from office.

Higgs had testified Thursday that he slit his wrists Tuesday because he thought he had cleared his name in earlier testimony and wanted to be with his wife in death. He had been free on $250,000 bail until the latest attempt to kill himself, then was jailed under suicide watch.

Higgs first attempted suicide in the couple’s Las Vegas home three days after his wife’s death. He was released from the hospital the same day and did not attend her funeral.

The defense maintained that Augustine died of a heart ailment, as doctors initially believed. But the day after she died, a co-worker told police that Higgs had made suspicious remarks to her about the best way to get away with killing someone.