The trial of a woman accused of fatally shooting her wife ended Wednesday with a guilty verdict on a lesser charge, a Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office official confirmed.

A Burlington County jury on Wednesday found Laura Bluestein guilty of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and evidence tampering in the Aug. 6, 2017 shooting death of her wife, Felicia Dormans. Jurors found her not guilty of a gun charge.

Dormans, 29, was killed in the Mount Holly home she shared with Bluestein, 31. Prosecutors sought to prove the killing was purposeful and had said before trial that Dormans was a victim of domestic violence in the relationship.

They said when rifle-toting Mount Holly and Westampton officers arrived at the Mill Street home, Bluestein had the beginning of a grave dug in the yard. Bluestein was in the home calling relatives, Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey said, referencing her cell phone records.

Sometime between the shooting and police arriving, Bluestein was seen on security cameras at a Lowe’s buying shovels and tarps. The hole in the yard was obscured by tarps, said Lackey, who prosecuted the case with Lisa Commentucci.

Bluestein was arrested after coming out of the home and officers entered, discovering Dormans on the third floor.

Robin Lord, Bluestein’s defense attorney, did not deny that Bluestein was holding the gun when it went off but said the shooting was accidental. She said the gun in question, a 9mm Springfield XD-M, belonged to Dormans and Bluestein was trying to load it when it went off.

That matched what a distraught Bluestein told detectives in a 100-minute interrogation video played during trial and again at the jury’s request during deliberations. At one point, Bluestein and the detectives acted out her version of events, in which she was sitting on the bed and Dormans was sitting on the floor. She said the gun went off when she was testing its weight.

Prosecutors had said Bluestein’s trip to Lowe’s afterward was an example of “coverup behavior.” Lord had contended Bluestein was in a panicked state, not thinking clearly.

“Panic is not guilty,” Lord argued in her closing statement. At one point in the closing argument she held a prop gun, with an orange-tipped barrel. “You’re holding it and then the next thing you know...boom," she exclaimed.

Lackey said Bluestein had a backpack packed with a Ruger, pills and some marijuana. Lord said her client “freaked out" but "she didn’t go anywhere.”

Officers were sent out to the residence and arrested Bluestein after her father contacted police.

Bluestein did not take the stand in her defense.

Though she was initially tried on a first-degree murder charge along with the tampering and gun charges, prosecutors later added other charges for consideration, including passion/provocation manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter.

The first day of deliberations, jurors asked “does the extreme indifference to human life apply to the act or also to things she did after the act?”

State law lists “extreme indifference to human life” as a factor that jurors must find to convict a defendant of aggravated manslaughter. To be guilty of murder, jurors have to be convinced a defendant killed someone purposely and knowingly.

They deliberated less than two hours Friday, and most of two days this week. They delivered the verdict after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Judge Terrence Cook, who presided over the trial, scheduled sentencing for April 23.

In a statement after the verdict Wednesday, Prosecutor Scott Coffina mentioned that help is available for victims of domestic abuse and their children through Providence House, part of the Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Trenton. In Burlington County, Providence House can be reached 24 hours at 1-877-871-7551 or 609-871-7551.

Youtube clips of portions of the trial are available at Visible Justice’s channel here.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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