A former Salina city building official has been convicted in California of poisoning his wife to death 20-years ago.
Jurors on Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court found 57-year-old Paul Curry guilty of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Curry killed his 50-year-old wife, Linda, to collect more than half a million dollars in life insurance and benefits after she died. Prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh said during the trial that Curry sedated his wife before injecting her with nicotine to kill her.
Curry’s lawyer, Lisa Kopelman, has said Curry’s wife suffered from a series of health issues.
Curry was arrested in 2010 in Salina where he had rebuilt his life and worked as a building official. He was hired in March of 2010 to be the City of Salina building official. It came as a shock when he was arrested less than a year later in Salina, in November 2010, and extradited to California.
