Retired Oregon Marine convicted of killing wife

MEDFORD, Ore. – A retired Marine was convicted Wednesday of killing his wife after a jury rejected his testimony that she shot herself.

Jackson County Circuit Court jurors deliberated throughout the day before reaching a verdict in the case of Bourne Huddleston, 45. He was convicted of murder and related counts in the March 23, 2012, death of Kristy Huddleston, 34.

The former gunnery sergeant was also convicted of murder solicitation. Prosecutors said he tried to hire two other men to kill his wife before doing it himself.

Five days of testimony began with a recording of a 911 call by the couple’s 10-year-old son, who found and tried to save his fatally wounded mother. The trial concluded with Huddleston’s testimony, the Medford Mail Tribune reported.

Sentencing was set for today.

The prosecution said Huddleston was under pressure over his relationship with a nursing student, with whom he had made marriage plans, and both women had confronted him.

State medical examiner Dr. James Olson testified the victim could not have killed herself because there was no searing, soot or powder on the skin around the wound.

Huddleston testified he was attempting to wash his wife’s hand and cover up the suicide when she leaped up and began to flail about. In a panic, he testified, he shoved her back down and fled, leaving her in the home with the boy.

The youth earlier testified he saw his father in the hallway outside the couple’s bedroom with a rifle.

After his father left, he said, he called 911, and a dispatcher told him how to clear his mother’s mouth and perform CPR.

An autopsy concluded she died of a gunshot wound to the head.