The way we see it: Justice for Quinn

The following is an editorial from the Statesville R&L.

Twelve Iredell County jurors put their lives on hold for about three weeks to help ensure that Misty Witherspoon received her day in court.

After listening to all of the testimony, viewing all of the evidence and considering the arguments of counsel for the defense and the state, the jury of eight women and four men concluded that the Mooresville woman was guilty of intentional, premeditated first-degree murder in the shooting death of her husband, Quinn, who made his living as a Concord police officer.

Iredell Superior Court Judge Kim Taylor imposed the only lawful sentence at her disposal — life imprisonment without parole.

From our vantage point, justice was served.

After the verdict was announced, defense attorney Andrew Jennings speculated that the fact that the defendant admitted lying to Mooresville police detectives during the investigation played a large role in the jury’s decision.

The reality is Misty Witherspoon had zero credibility in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. Not only had she been previously convicted of stealing thousands of dollars from her church, but it was apparent from the evidence that she had been deceiving her husband about their financial affairs.

The physical evidence presented by prosecutors refuted not only her first story about accidentally shooting her husband after slipping on a children’s book, but also her subsequent claim that she had been trying to kill herself when the family’s cats startled her, causing her to accidentally shoot Quinn.

Anybody who has ever pulled the trigger on a 40-caliber Beretta knows it’s hard to accidentally pull the trigger, as the jury had the chance to do in open court. The testimony of prosecution witnesses about the proximity of the weapon to Quinn’s head and the trajectory of the bullet also cast serious doubts on her stories. The fact that the blood on the victim’s head had already begun to dry when officers arrived didn’t help her case either.

While it’s unfortunate that the Witherspoon children will now grow up without their mother, the real tragedy in this case is that Misty Witherspoon put a gun to her sleeping husband’s head and pulled the trigger, and that their children will grow up without the love and presence of their father.

The jury’s verdict in this case is a validation of the evidence presented at trial and to Officer Quinn Witherspoon’s dedication to criminal justice.