Woman found guilty of murder.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

A Lane County jury found Cynthia Lee Rowe guilty of murder Wednesday for the June 4 shooting death of her brother-in-law, Arthur Rowe, at his home on Fox Hollow Road in Eugene.

The conviction carries a mandatory 25-year sentence. Circuit Judge Doug Mitchell set sentencing for 3 p.m. today.

The eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes before rejecting Rowe's legal claims that her emotional state or her highly intoxicated condition did not allow her to act intentionally. Had jurors agreed with her, they could have found her guilty of manslaughter, which carries a mandatory 10-year sentence.

Investigators determined that Rowe, a 40-year-old mother of four, shot the 43-year-old victim twice in the head with a .22-caliber rifle at a Fox Hollow Road residence where he had allowed her and two of her children to live. The shooting happened after Rowe became angry with the victim when he ordered Rowe's boyfriend off the property, evidence indicated.

In closing arguments on Wednesday, the prosecutor told jurors that Rowe's legal claims were poor excuses for murder.

Deputy Lane County District Attorney Bill Warnisher said evidence showed that Rowe initially denied shooting the victim, then claimed that it was an accident, then claimed it happened while she was so upset with the victim that she could not control herself. Finally, in the closing moments of the trial, Rowe's defense lawyer claimed that she was so drunk she could not have acted intentionally.

But Warnisher recounted testimony that Rowe got the rifle out a half-hour before the shooting, loaded her children into a pickup truck immediately before the shooting, wiped off the rifle afterward and drove several miles to dispose of the weapon.

While in jail, she wrote a letter trying to arrange false testimony for her trial, Warnisher said.

He said Rowe's own son testified that his mother gets mean when she drinks heavily, as she did that night.

"Did she intend to shoot Arthur Rowe? Absolutely," Warnisher told the jury.

Defense lawyer Mike Ford had argued that Cynthia Rowe suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual abuse as a child and from neglect by her mother. He said she became upset with the victim over his behavior around her 11-year-old son.

"Look at the life that she has led. This woman has been abused since she was a girl," Ford said. "This is not a simple case. Justice is going to be hard for you to find."