VISTA (NEWS 8/CNS) - A woman and her gun instructor were convicted Monday of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder for a plot to shoot and kill her estranged husband, who survived the attack on a dark dirt road in Carlsbad last year.
Diana Lovejoy, now the ex-wife of victim Greg Mulvihill, collapsed as the first guilty verdicts were read. She received medical attention with deputies coming to assist her and even a local reporter and certified EMT Jamie Chambers jumping in to help.
The courtroom was then cleared and Lovejoy was transported to a hospital before the rest of the verdicts were announced.
"We had to go back into the jury room and we're all still human, so you know... my heart was racing when we went in there, that wasn't an easy thing," said jury foreperson Erin Reed. "But I sat up tall and proud of what we did in there.
"It affected some of the other jurors more - they were a little emotional."
Jurors deliberated parts of two days before convicting Lovejoy, 45, and 50-year-old Weldon McDavid Jr., who face 25 years to life and 50 years to life in prison, respectively, when sentenced Dec. 12.
"Me personally, I believe that the motive was the money," said juror Michelle Berman. "I believed $120,000 was playing into it, but I also think that she just had enough."
Prosecutor Jodi Breton told jurors that Mulvihill got a call just before 11 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2016, from a person claiming to be a private investigator, who supposedly had information on his estranged wife.
The caller instructed Mulvihill to go to a dirt road where he could pick up a package containing materials pertaining to Lovejoy, according to the prosecutor. Mulvihill and a co-worker, Jason Kovach, drove to the area and used a flashlight to look for a package taped to a power pole.
Kovach testified that they saw some rustling in the bushes, then noticed what looked like a person lying in a prone position with a rifle pointed at them. The witness said shots rang out, and he and a wounded Mulvihill took off running.
Breton said Mulvihill, 45, was trying to reclaim his life after Lovejoy had made claims that he had molested their young son and sexually abused her. The couple had been separated since July 2014 and were in the final stages of completing their divorce.
Carlsbad police determined that the phone used to call Mulvihill was purchased by Lovejoy, and feces found in the bushes at the scene of the shooting were traced to McDavid, the prosecutor said.
Investigators found a multitude of guns and a silencer in McDavid's garage, and a "blast bag" containing seven spent shell casings, Breton told the jury.
McDavid's attorney, Ricky Crawford, said his client was a trained marksman and former Marine who fired his rifle only after he heard someone yell "I have a gun!"
"If Weldon McDavid wanted to kill someone with his skill set, he would have done so," Crawford told the jury. "That was not his intent."
Crawford said Lovejoy -- whom he met when she took shooting lessons at a gun range where he worked -- told him that she had been trying for years to get someone to do something about her estranged husband allegedly abusing their child.
Brad Patton, Lovejoy's attorney, said his client had taken out a temporary restraining order against Mulvihill because she claimed he was abusing her and their son.
After the restraining order elapsed, Lovejoy still had concerns about her estranged husband but "at no time was there a discussion (or) conspiracy to murder her husband," Patton told the jury.
Watch below: Lovejoy's verdict being read and her collapse
Watch below: McDavid's verdict being read and his reaction
RELATED COVERAGE