Sean McKeag | Times Leader Prosecutors Jill Matthews and Daniel Zola on Friday address the media after a Luzerne County jury found Jessica Lynn Alinsky guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence. She is scheduled to be sentenced March 22. - Sean McKeag | Times Leader Jessica Lynn Alinsky on Friday is led out of the Luzerne County Courthouse after a jury found her guilty of the 2011 murder of her boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Gailie. Alinsky was found guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence after just over two hours of deliberations. -

WILKES-BARRE — Jessica Lynn Alinsky sunk her head and brushed away tears as a Luzerne County jury announced her fate.

After just over two hours of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men Friday found Alinsky, 32, guilty of third-degree murder in the 2011 fatal, point-blank-range shooting of her boyfriend, Matthew Ryan Gailie. Alinsky, of Shenandoah, was also convicted of tampering with evidence.

Alinsky sobbed as she was escorted out of the courthouse and remanded to prison.

For prosecutors and for the friends and family of Gailie, a 34-year-old corrections officer at State Correctional Institution Frackville, the verdict brought long-overdue closure in what had been a nearly five-year investigation into his death, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola said.

“The family has finality once and for all, and they needed it,” Zola said following the verdict.

Members of Gailie’s family declined to comment on the outcome, but Zola said they were “overcome with joy and happiness.”

“They needed this to be over,” he said. “Once and for all.”

Gailie was murdered on Sept. 2, 2011, less than an hour after returning home from a shift at the prison, prosecutors said. An argument erupted and in the fray, Alinsky unloaded a single gunshot from less than 7 inches away from Gailie’s face, they said. The bullet cut his brain stem and killed him almost instantaneously.

Prosecutors said Alinsky manipulated evidence at the couple’s Hazle Township home in an attempt to make Gailie’s death look like a suicide.

They said Alinsky moved his body, which had fallen onto the couch, to the living room floor and planted a bank statement next to his body and a gun in his hand, things he would not have been able to do after the damage done by the bullet.

Alinsky continued to purport lie after lie and only came clean after being confronted with evidence that conflicted with her stories, Zola said.

Forensic pathologist Gary Ross testified that the path of the bullet into Gailie’s upper lip and the placement of the gun in his hand were red flags during his investigation into the cause and manner of death.

During a suicide, a gun is typically dropped and found in an unusual location, not in the victim’s hand, Ross explained. It was extremely unusual for a gun to be found there and if it was, it was a signal that “something fishy” might be going on, he said.

Ross said from the very start, he believed Gailie was the victim of a homicide.

Zola urged jurors during his closing arguments to put an end to the ruse once and for all.

Jurors deliberated for a little over two hours, returning to the courtroom on only one occasion for instruction on the differences between a first- and third-degree murder charge and an explanation of malice.

Their verdict Friday just after 5 p.m. marked Alinsky’s second brush with a third-degree murder charge. In 2014, she withdrew a plea to the charge that would have sent her to jail for up to 40 years. With the addition of the tampering with evidence charge, she is likely to face up to 42 years this time, prosecutors said.

Alinsky did not take the stand in her defense, but frequently shook her head and was seen making non-verbal communication with jurors, resulting in a warning issued by Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley.

Defense attorney Demetrius Fannick acknowledged Friday it would have been difficult for Alinsky to testify given the number of statements she had made to investigators.

Fannick also expressed belief that the defense could have mounted a stronger case had he been able to call Dr. Mark Reynolds, an Australian bloodstain pattern expert whose emergence earlier this week prompted a call for a mistrial and nearly voided several days of testimony.

Reynolds testified Wednesday via speakerphone from an Australian airport during a motions hearing held without jurors present. He stated he disagreed with a report on the Alinsky case authored by Trooper John Corrigan. Corrigan presented the case during a 2014 police workshop that Reynolds instructed.

It was Corrigan who was called as the prosecution’s first expert witness. He testified that his investigation concluded Alinsky shot Gailie and staged a suicide that was made to appear financially related.

Reynolds stated he had questions about Corrigan’s conclusions, but acknowledged passing Corrigan on the course.

Gartley later denied the motion for a mistrial after less than 20 minutes of deliberation.

Fannick said he believed Reynolds would have had a “big impact” if he were able to testify, but added the Aussie expert needed more time to review the details of the case, something he wouldn’t be able to do within a week.

“Had I known Dr. Reynolds’ position and that he was available, I would have retained him a year and he would have reviewed everything and been able to testify,” he said.

Zola said it was clear during cross-examination that Reynolds had little knowledge of the case.

Gartley scheduled Alinsky’s sentencing for March 22.

Alinsky plans to file an appeal, Fannick said.

Prosecutors Jill Matthews and Daniel Zola on Friday address the media after a Luzerne County jury found Jessica Lynn Alinsky guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence. She is scheduled to be sentenced March 22. https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021316alinskyverdict2.jpg Prosecutors Jill Matthews and Daniel Zola on Friday address the media after a Luzerne County jury found Jessica Lynn Alinsky guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence. She is scheduled to be sentenced March 22. Sean McKeag | Times Leader Jessica Lynn Alinsky on Friday is led out of the Luzerne County Courthouse after a jury found her guilty of the 2011 murder of her boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Gailie. Alinsky was found guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence after just over two hours of deliberations. https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021316alinskyverdict1.jpg Jessica Lynn Alinsky on Friday is led out of the Luzerne County Courthouse after a jury found her guilty of the 2011 murder of her boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Gailie. Alinsky was found guilty of third-degree murder and tampering with evidence after just over two hours of deliberations. Sean McKeag | Times Leader

Prosecutors: Persistence paid off

By Joe Dolinsky [email protected]

Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL

Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL