Elicia Hughes

Background

Elicia Hughes was a 3rd grade teacher. She married Brian Hughes in 1999. Five years later, they had two young daughters and lived a comfortable suburban life.

The offence

On the night of June 3, 2004, the Hinds County 911 center received a call from Elicia Hughes. Elicia claimed that her husband had been shot. When EMTs arrived, Brian Hughes was already dead.

Brian Hughes had been shot several times. Elicia told police that she had been asleep, but woke up when she heard popping noises followed by the home alarm system going off. When she got up to investigate, she discovered the front door open. She found Brian Hughes lying dead on the living room floor.

Investigators found no signs of forced entry. They found spent shell casings inside and outside the house. Brian Hughes’s .45-caliber handgun was missing.

Prosecutors argued that Elicia Hughes had killed Brian Hughes because she was tired of his philandering and because he was worth more dead than alive. Prosecutors also argued that she wanted to collect on a $250,000 life insurance policy and planned the killing. The prosecution presented the case as premeditated murder.

Elicia’s defence argued that she was confused and distressed when she made statements to detectives, and that it was more likely that Brian Hughes was shot by the jealous husband or boyfriend of one of his lovers.

Investigation

The investigation dragged on for nine months. During that time, Elicia Hughes collected $250,000 in life insurance and made plans to sell her home and move with her children to Florida.

As part of the investigation, Elicia’s hands were swabbed for later testing for gunshot residue.

Police became suspicious of Elicia Hughes because they believed that if an intruder had shot Brian Hughes, the security alarm would have gone off before the shots were fired. Elicia said she heard the shots before the alarm went off.

Several months later, a gunshot residue test on swabs taken of Elicia’s hands revealed residue on the back of her hands. Police then charged Elicia Hughes with Brian Hughes’s murder.

Crime scene investigators testified for the prosecution that expended bullet casings were found outside the house and near the door, not where they would be expected if the shooting took place inside. Investigators also testified that there was no blood in the foyer, as might be expected when someone is shot four times with a .45-caliber pistol. The only blood was found pooled under Brian’s body, which prosecutors argued indicated that Brian was shot in the den, not in the foyer after answering the door.

A ballistics analyst testified that gunshot residue was found on the back of Elicia’s right hand. Prosecutors argued that this suggested Elicia Hughes had fired a weapon, because touching Brian’s body would have left residue on her fingers instead of the back of her hand.

Brian Hughes’s brother testified that Brian Hughes was security-conscious and would not have opened the door that late at night.

Police testified that they found a bullet lodged in a wall, indicating that the shooter was inexperienced with a gun and fired wildly.

The prosecution’s case included the argument that the sequence of events was inconsistent with Elicia’s account. Prosecutors said her claim of hearing gunshots before the alarm sounded supported the prosecution theory that Elicia Hughes shot Brian Hughes and then opened the door to set off the alarm to make it appear that there had been an intruder.

During the first trial, it emerged that police work had been limited at the scene. Investigators did not do a thorough search of the house. They recovered what they thought was a small baggie of marijuana. Detectives never did find the murder weapon.

In later testimony described in the proceedings, police officers moved bullet casings so an EMT could get by with a gurney. The defence also challenged whether the bullet cartridges had been moved at least once to allow for removal of Brian Hughes’s body.

Arrest

Elicia Hughes was arrested on March 9, 2005.

Trial

First trial (conviction and sentence)

Elicia Hughes went on trial in Hinds County Circuit Court in January 2007.

On January 9, 2007, a jury convicted Hughes of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutors argued for premeditation and presented circumstantial evidence. They argued that Elicia Hughes made a telling statement to detectives about hearing gunshots and then the alarm, and that if there had been an intruder, she would have heard the alarm first.

Prosecutors presented testimony from one of Brian Hughes’s lovers. The lover testified that, on the night of the murder, she had been talking to Brian Hughes on his cell phone, but he had hung up when Elicia walked into the room. Cell phone records showed the call ended around 11:15pm, within five minutes of when Elicia said she had been awakened by the popping noises.

It only took jurors two hours to find her guilty.

A ballistics and forensic discussion at trial included arguments that the lack of blood at the doorway was inconsistent with a front-door shooter, and that the wound pattern and trajectories were consistent with an inexperienced shooter.

Jury-selection ruling and new trial

A month later, the trial judge set aside the conviction. The judge ruled that the prosecution engaged in discriminatory jury selection to dismiss black prospective jurors. Hughes was released on bond pending a new trial.

Second trial (acquittal)

Hughes went on trial a second time in November 2007.

At the second trial, the prosecution presented the same evidence as in the first trial, though the girlfriend’s testimony was described as being embellished about the cell phone conversation with Brian Hughes.

For the first time, the girlfriend testified that after Brian said he had to call her back (their code), she asked if Elicia Hughes was there, and Brian said she was.

The defence cross-examined the girlfriend about the change in her account and suggested she had changed her statement to more fully incriminate Elicia Hughes.

Elicia Hughes’s new defence lawyer discovered that police had photographed tire skid marks outside the home at the time of the murder, but no witness had been found who heard a car leave the home. The defence located a neighbour who testified that she was on the telephone when she heard the gunshots and almost immediately heard, though she did not see, a car screech away from the Hughes home.

A ballistics expert testified that the gunshot residue on Elicia’s hand could have resulted from coming into contact with her husband’s body after she found him.

In cross-examining crime scene personnel, the defence exposed that the bullet cartridges had been moved at least once to allow for the removal of Brian Hughes’s body.

A deal was discussed during the second trial proceedings: if Elicia Hughes pleaded guilty to manslaughter, she would get no more than 10 years in prison. She rejected the deal and proceeded to trial.

On November 16, 2007, the jury acquitted Elicia Hughes after two hours of deliberation. The jury found her not guilty of murdering her husband Brian Hughes.

Appeals

The conviction was overturned after the trial judge set aside the conviction due to discriminatory jury selection. After the ruling, Elicia Hughes was released on bond and received a new trial.

Outcome

Elicia Hughes was sentenced to life in prison on January 9, 2007. The conviction was overturned, and in the second trial she was found not guilty on November 16, 2007.

Aftermath

After the November 2007 acquittal, Elicia Hughes told a local station: "I thank the jury the attorney and stuff because they have been behind me 100 percent."

Her attorney said, "There was no proof she shot her husband."

Prosecutors did not change their theory and argued at the second trial that Elicia Hughes killed her husband out of jealousy for the life insurance policy she was the beneficiary of. The prosecution maintained that jurors failed to convict in the second trial.

Hinds county District Attorney Faye Peterson said after the trial, "unfortunately there are times when killers go free and this is one of those instances."

Elicia Hughes said, "The real tragedy in this is not the time I've been prosecuted over the past three years but the person who actually killed Brian is still out there."

In the discussions around the proceedings, Elicia Hughes said: "I did not kill my husband."

She also said: "I did not kill my husband. ... No. ... For the insurance? No. Things weren't perfect but they were okay? They weren't perfect but they were okay."

Elicia Hughes said after the not guilty verdict: "Utter relief. Great joy. Gratefulness to just a whole bunch of emotions that might appear random, but they just kind of meshed together and came out as I think a scream."

She said: "I was anxious. There was fear. There was hope. There was just a whole bonanza of emotions."

She said: "Yes. I did I’m definitely grateful for the not guilty verdict. And it did give me the opportunity to live the rest of my life not behind bars." She also said: "But until the person who actually committed the crime is caught, you know, I don't feel like I’ll have my life back totally the way I want it back."

The narrative around the case also included statements from Brian Hughes’s family. Brian’s aunt Bonnie Smith said she "still couldn't believe Elicia could have done that" and later said: "until the trial did I finally make up my mind that she did do it."

Brian Hughes’s mother, Pat Hughes, said: "All I could think of, is the house is on fire." She also said: "One of the policemen at the door told me Brian had been shot so I called his name. And I called Elicia's name she called back to me." Pat Hughes added: "Elicia, don't have Brian die. Talk to him. Hold him. Please don't let my baby die."

Brian Hughes’s brother, Willie Hughes Jr., said: "We felt that we had gotten a good verdict, a verdict of guilt. So I guess from that standpoint that eased the pain to a degree."

After the acquittal, Willie Hughes said: "Within my heart, I don't feel that justice was served. Don't care how beautiful she may look. I don't care how smart she may be. She’s still a murderer." He also said: "I believe she got away with murder." He further said: "That's correct." and "That's right. That's right."

Elicia Hughes continued to live in the area after the case, attended the same church, and was not teaching anymore. Dennis Murphy asked her if she was staying in Jackson, and Elicia Hughes responded: "Yes." She also said she was "thinking about moving out west someday."