Guilty!

For those of you who are not long-time readers of the Bright Spot, before Ellie was born, I taught aerobics at 24 Hour Fitness and had known Al Sterling for about 6 years. I talked to him every Tuesday after my class and attended his classes. Never in 6 years did he mention that he had a wife or child to anyone at the gym and he was pretty "involved" with a lot of people in his classes. I knew this guy was a b.s. artist when one day he told me he had been absent from teaching because he had been on a secret mission for the government "jumping out of airplanes". Spare me. It all caught up with him because he's going to the big house. Don't drop the soap, Al.

From the Dallas Morning News:

"A Collin County jury on Friday found a man guilty of hiring someone to kill his pregnant wife. Albert Jackson Sterling II was found guilty of two counts of solicitation of capital murder -- one for his wife and one for the unborn child. He was accused of trying to hire an ex-convict to kill his eight-month pregnant wife in Nov. 2006 at their Allen home.

The six-man, six-woman jury delivered their verdict this morning after six hours of deliberation over two days. When State District Judge Curt Henderson read the first guilty verdict, Mr. Sterling blew out a breath, closed his eyes and dropped his head.

Prosecutors said Mr. Sterling's motive was to be with his girlfriend and for the insurance money for his wife's death. They said he lived two lives -- one as a Christian family man and another as a single man who claimed to be a Navy SEAL and taught a marital arts class.

The sentencing hearing was scheduled to begin later this morning. Mr. Sterling could face up to life in prison for each first-degree felony charge."