PORTLAND, Ore. — After the defense in Nancy Crampton Brophy's murder trial rested its case Wednesday, the state called in a rebuttal witness who was incarcerated with Crampton Brophy in Multnomah County jail for several months.
Crampton Brophy is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her husband, chef Dan Brophy, at the Oregon Culinary Institute in 2018.
Anndrea Jacobs, an inmate serving a 48-month sentence at a minimum-security prison in Texas for fraud and identity theft, said she met Crampton Brophy in jail after accepting a plea deal in September 2020.
Jacobs told the court that she and Crampton Brophy were housed together in Multnomah County for the better part of 15 months, and they developed a friendly relationship.
Prosecuting attorney Shawn Overstreet called Jacobs to the stand and asked her to describe her relationship with Crampton Brophy. Jacobs said they would talk about things like food, wine and travel, and would often choose beds that were close together in the dorm-style jail setting.
She said Crampton Brophy would sometimes talk about her case and that she had an issue of People Magazine that contained an article about her case and asked if Jacobs wanted to read it. She said Crampton Brophy offered the article to several other inmates to read while they were jailed together.
Overstreet asked if Jacobs had ever asked the defendant how Dan Brophy died.
"Yes. She told me that he was shot two times to the heart, and she showed me the distance," Jacobs replied. She said Crampton Brophy stretched out her arms and said, "it was about this far."
Jacobs told the prosecutor that Crampton Brophy initially started to say "I" instead of "it," but that she appeared to have misspoken and corrected herself.
She told Overstreet that Crampton Brophy spoke about her husband sometimes, she that she liked to cook. When asked she ever saw the defendant cry while speaking of her husband, Jacobs said she did not.
In cross examination, Crampton Brophy's defense attorney focused on Jacobs' criminal history and the fact that she is currently under investigation for a new, unrelated fraud case.
The defense questioned Jacobs about her criminal history dating back several years and pressed Jacobs on whether she planned to use her testimony to her benefit.
Although Jacobs admitted that she had a pending motion for compassionate release from prison when she spoke to detectives in April, she denied seeking any benefit from their conversation.
The defense pointed out that a detective told Jacobs providing information about Crampton Brophy could be of value to her if the prosecution deemed it relevant to the case. Jacobs said she responded by saying that speaking to the prosecution wasn't necessary, as she was not looking to get any benefit out of talking.
Jacobs said she did not willingly choose to be involved in the trial, and that she was brought from Texas to Oregon only based on the information she provided detectives.
She said that she has received threats from fellow inmates since she was set to testify in the trial.