A Manhattan Beach man was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder for chasing his wife through their home, shooting her in the chest and firing a bullet between her eyes when she collapsed to her knees in front of him.

Bill Lawrence Gallup, 68, displayed no emotion as a clerk read the verdict of the Torrance Superior Court jury. Jurors took just 45 minutes to reach their decision following the weeklong trial.

“Bill has wanted this process to be over with, and right now I think he’s relieved that it’s over with,” said Gallup’s attorney, Alec Rose. “I think it’s a very difficult time for him.”

Tried to kill himself

Gallup, who tried to kill himself following the July 5, 2003, shooting, faces 50 years to life in state prison when Judge Mark Arnold sentences him on April 22.

Gallup shot at his 50-year-wife, Oliva Gallup, through their kitchen saloon doors, fired a bullet into her chest, then stood over her when she fell to her knees and executed her with a shot to the forehead from two feet away.

Gallup, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.166, twice the legal limit for driving, then put the revolver in his mouth and fired another shot. The bullet severely damaged his face and pierced the frontal lobe of his brain. Doctors saved him, but his face remains disfigured.

The husband survived to face the first-degree murder charge, but, in 2006, psychiatrists declared him incompetent to stand trial because his brain damage caused amnesia and other mental issues. Gallup spent the past 10 years in a mental institution and was recently determined to be competent to stand trial.

Prosecutor grateful for justice

“I’m grateful that after 13 years, we finally got justice for Oliva Gallup, especially considering the brutal nature of her murder,’ said Deputy District Attorney Maren Dermody, who prosecuted the case.

Jurors declined to discuss their finding that the killing was willful, premeditated murder. They rejected Gallup’s own testimony that he did not shoot him wife, and remembered nothing about what happened that day. On the stand Monday, Gallup described his wife of 30 years as his friend and said he remembered only waking up in a jail hospital ward a month later.

“He has no knowledge of what happened and he does not believe he shot his wife,” Rose said.

Evidence and testimony, however, showed he was alone with his wife in the house. Sitting outside the Marine Place residence with her sister, Oliva Gallup twice went inside to tell Gallup to turn down his music before shots rang out.

Jurors reject defense arguments

Jurors also rejected defense arguments that Gallup might have believed he was shooting at someone else who had entered the house, and that he did not intend to kill his wife. The arguments were an effort to reduce the crime to second-degree murder.

Following the verdict, Rose said there was no evidence that Gallup ever was homicidal or suicidal before that day and police had never been called to the house for domestic violence or arguments.

“He made a horrible error, saw the result of the error and was so anguished at the result of that error that he couldn’t go on,” Rose said.

Gallup faces 25 years to life in prison for the murder conviction, and another 25 years to life for using a gun to commit the killing. The gun was found inches from his hand as he lay wounded on his bed.