A 58-year-old man was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Friday for giving his wife a fatal dose of nicotine in order to cash in on $500,000 in insurance payouts.
Paul Marshal Curry was convicted in September of one felony count of special circumstances murder for financial gain in a verdict that came 20 years after the death of his wife Linda.
Prosecutors alleged Paul Curry gave his wife of two years the lethal dose on the night of June 9, 1994, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Paul Curry then called 911 and told the operator that his wife was in bed and was not breathing. Orange County emergency personnel responded and rushed Linda Curry to the hospital where she later died.
Paul Curry collected over $500,000 from his wife’s life insurance policies. At the time of the crime, Paul Curry was considered a suspect, but the case eventually went cold.
In 2007, the case was reopened and new evidence led to the arrest of Paul Curry in Kansas where he was then living, the release stated.
During the trial, another one of Paul Curry’s former wives testified that she was frequently ill during the last year of their marriage and that her husband suggested they both sign-up for life insurance policies, the D.A.’s office stated.
When her life insurance policy was denied, the couple separated and her re-occurring health problems stopped, prosecutors said.
During Friday’s sentencing, Linda Curry’s family and friends delivered impact statements to the court.
One of Linda Curry’s friend said in part, “Exactly 7,459 days, as of today, have passed since my best friend Linda was murdered in her own home, in her own bed, by her own husband. I have never had a doubt of who could have done such a horrific thing to such a sweet soul and on each of those 7,459 days, as I have thought of Linda, I have grieved to know that the person who professed to love her and took vows to protect her, murdered her.”