Woman guilty of murder

After 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury of five men and seven women convicted Dawn Wear of second-degree murder, rejecting the more serious charge of first-degree murder.

When Wear, 39, is sentenced March 8 she could receive anywhere from 10 years up to 22 years in prison.

Wear's attorneys, Dan Cooper and Laura Udall, were disappointed their client wasn't acquitted, but said they were grateful the jury rejected the prosecutor's argument that Wear planned Annette Lucas' death.

"I'd have been terrified of a first-degree murder conviction," Udall said. "Her spending 25 years in prison would have been a complete travesty of justice."

"The state refused to offer any plea in this case and obviously they should have," Cooper said.

While a first-degree-murder conviction requires a jury to find that the defendant intended to kill the person and did so in a premeditated manner, a second-degree-murder conviction requires the jury to find that a person "recklessly" engaged in conduct that resulted in someone's death.

Members of the Lucas family declined to speak after the verdict was rendered, but prosecutor Baird Greene said he respected the jury's decision.

Wear's daughters, Rebecca, 21, and Brittany, 19, said they, too, had mixed feelings about the verdict. "I know a lot of people are disappointed in it, but it's better than first-degree," Brittany Wear said.

The past 11 months have been difficult, the girls said, but they've had tremendous support from friends and family members, many of whom attended the entire trial.

Their biggest support has come from their mom, they said.

"She has a really strong faith in God," Brittany said.

"And she told us to put this on His shoulders," Rebecca said.

Wear was charged with shooting Lucas in the back on Feb. 28, 2005, two days after learning Lucas was having an affair with her husband of 22 years, Ron Wear.

Lucas, a married mother of two, and Ron Wear worked together at Desert Valley Landscaping.

On the morning of the shooting, Greene said Dawn Wear walked into the business at 11150 S. Nogales Highway , pointed a shotgun at Lucas' back and pulled the trigger because she couldn't stand losing Ron, the only man she's ever been with.

Wear told jurors she went into the business planning to shoot herself in the head in front of the lovers but the gun went off as she turned to place it under her chin.

Udall told jurors during closing arguments that "not every horrible accident is a crime" and urged them to acquit Wear.

As hard as it may be to believe, Wear wasn't angry that morning, Udall said.

Udall reminded jurors that everyone who testified on Wear's behalf said she was an incredibly passive, selfless and depressed personality. Knowing that, she said, it shouldn't be so hard to believe that Wear was suicidal that day, and not homicidal, Udall said.

Lucas' wound itself lends credence to Wear's story, Udall said.

The coroner testified that the shotgun pellets went in at an upward angle, proving Wear was holding the shotgun at hip level and not aiming it, Udall said.

However, Greene told jurors the physical evidence supports the government's version of events.

Given Wear's height, and the height of Lucas' chair, it's entirely possible Wear aimed and fired from waist-level, he said.

In order to believe Wear, Greene said the jurors would have to believe her contention that she accidentally found the shotgun, that it accidentally fell open to reveal where she could load it, that she accidentally brought extra shotgun shells to the scene and that she accidentally shot the very person her husband was having an affair with.

The jury would also have to believe that the accidental shotgun blast "miraculously" missed everything in the office but Lucas, including computers, desks, walls, the floor and the ceiling.

2 1/2

The number of hours the jury of deliberated before convicting Dawn Wear of second-degree murder.

10 to 22

The number of years in prison she could receive when sentenced March 8.

49 or 61

The ages at which she may be when released from prison, depending on her sentence.