PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a verdict in a homicide case (all times local):
11 a.m.
Jurors have acquitted a Phoenix man of first-degree murder but convicted him of second-degree murder in the presumed death of his girlfriend, who was the subject of an unsuccessful search of a landfill for her body.
There were audible gasps among courtroom spectators when the jury’s acquittal of Robert John Interval on the charge of premeditated first-degree murder in the presumed death of 34-year-old Christine Mustafa was read Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.
That was before the verdict convicting Interval of the reduced charge of second-degree murder was read.
Mustafa was the subject of a 12-week search of a Phoenix landfill after disappearing in May 2017.
After the search ended in December 2017, police said there still was enough evidence to win a conviction.
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6:45 a.m.
A jury verdict is scheduled to be read Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom the trial of a man accused of killing his girlfriend, who was the subject of an unsuccessful search.
Robert John Interval was tried on one count of premeditated first-degree murder in the presumed death of 34-year-old Christine Mustafa.
She was the subject of a 12-week search of a Phoenix landfill after disappearing in May 2017.
After the search ended in December 2017, police said there still was enough evidence to win a conviction.
During the trial, the prosecution said the 39-year-old Interval made incriminating statements in texts, bought mattress covers the day Mustafa disappeared in May 2017 and was seen outside a trash transfer facility later that day.
Police say Mustafa had plans to leave Interval.
—-
6:45 a.m.
A jury verdict is scheduled to be read Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom the trial of a man accused of killing his girlfriend, who was the subject of an unsuccessful search.
Robert John Interval was tried on one count of premeditated first-degree murder in the presumed death of 34-year-old Christine Mustafa.
She was the subject of a 12-week search of a Phoenix landfill after disappearing in May 2017.
After the search ended in December 2017, police said there still was enough evidence to win a conviction.
During the trial, the prosecution said the 39-year-old Interval made incriminating statements in texts, bought mattress covers the day Mustafa disappeared in May 2017 and was seen outside a trash transfer facility later that day.
Police say Mustafa had plans to leave Interval.
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