Woman in hammer killing qualifies for execution

PHOENIX - A jury has decided that an Arizona woman should be eligible for the death penalty for killing her husband with a hammer.

The decision on Monday clears the way for jurors to now consider whether they will imprison Marissa Devault for life or sentence her to death for the fatal beating of Dale Harrell in 2009.

To make her eligible for the death penalty, the jury had to determine that she killed her husband in an especially cruel manner.

If jurors had found Devault didn't qualify for execution, then a judge would have had to sentence her to life in prison.

Beginning tomorrow, attorneys on both sides will now make arguments to jurors on whether she should be imprisoned or executed.

Prosecutors argued Devault carried out the 2009 attack on Harrell in an especially cruel manner for the purpose of getting life insurance money.

Devault claims she killed Harrell in self-defense and told investigators that Harrell had physically and sexually abused her in the past.

Harrell died nearly a month after the attack at a hospice after suffering complications from head injuries.

The jury convicted Devault of first-degree murder on last Tuesday.