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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Franklin County jury has found a woman guilty of murdering her husband in the couple’s Dublin home.
The verdict was reached Thursday in the trial of Holli M. Osborn, 46, of East Liberty, who was found guilty on two counts of murder in the death of her 50-year-old husband, Dr. Christopher D. Osborn, in 2018. Osborn made bond and has been released from custody since June 2019, court records indicate.
“We just want to thank the jury for their service and appreciate all the hard work that they did and were just happy and feel like they got the right result,” Franklin County prosecutor Daniel Lenert said.
The verdict came just hours after Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page swore in an alternate juror. There was discussion that a juror had been seen on the court’s livestream, but it is unclear if that is the reason for the juror’s dismissal.
Over the course of the two-week long trial, prosecutors have argued that Osborn drunkenly shot her husband three times while he slept in bed at the couple’s Dublin home on July 18, 2018. Defense attorneys, however, contend that there’s not enough evidence linking Osborn to the crime.
Dublin police officer Gwen Whittaker took the stand on the trial’s first day on Sept. 27, where she testified that Osborn appeared to be impaired as authorities questioned her at the couple’s home after the body was found.
“She was very unsteady on her feet,” Whittaker said. “She had glassy and bloodshot eyes; she was slurring her speech incredibly bad to the point I had to ask her to repeat two or three times.”
Upon authorities’ arrival, prosecutors said they found two guns beside the bed, with traces of Osborn’s DNA discovered on the trigger and grip of one of the weapons. Lenert said there was even gunshot residue on Osborn’s eyebrows.
But defense attorney Kevin Gall said “there’s two major things DNA can’t tell us”: how and when it may have appeared. Residue could have been transferred to Osborn, Gall said, while she was in custody of the Dublin police.
“That is not arguing either way – that is highlighting things the state cannot prove to you,” Gall said in his closing arguments Wednesday.
Despite Gall’s request that Osborn be kept on her current bond given her good behavior throughout the trial, Judge Page denied his request.
“She’s shown up for every single day of her trial; she’s shown up for every court date that she had,” Gall said. “I’d ask the court to keep that in mind and consider keeping her out on current bond she’s on.”
Jurors heard from 15 witnesses during the course of the trial, some of whom presented text messages as evidence of Dr. Christopher Osborn’s alleged infidelity and spoke of the nature of the Osborns’ relationship.
“Their relationship was described as up and down,” Lenert said in his closing arguments. “They would love each other, then they would fight, makeup, rinse, repeat.”
Osborn faces a mandatory sentence of 18 years to life in prison, the prosecutor’s office said. Her sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.