Marissa DeVault Trial Update: DeVault Found Guilty in 2009 Hammer Slaying Trial, Jury to Decide Death Penalty Sentence

On Tuesday, Marissa DeVault was found guilty of using a hammer to viciously attack and kill her husband while he was sleeping in 2009. Now, it is up to jurors to decide whether the Arizona woman deserves life in prison or the death penalty.

DeVault was convicted of the first-degree murder of her husband, Dale Harrell, 34, at Arizona's Maricopa County Superior Court, reports the Associated Press. The 36-year-old mother of three used a claw hammer to bash Harrell's head while he was sleeping in their home on Jan. 14, 2009. He suffered multiple skull fractures and died almost a month later in a hospice.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that the former stripper killed her husband in order to collect his almost $300,000 life insurance policy and use it to pay off a $360,000 loan to her secret boyfriend. However, defense attorneys maintained that she was a battered wife who killed her spouse in self-defense.

The jury will now decide if there are aggravating factors and if the crime was excessively cruel or was committed for financial gain, factors that would qualify DeVault to be sentenced with the death penalty. The penalty phase is scheduled to begin Wednesday morning, reports CBS News.

According to reports, DeVault remained expressionless as the verdict was read during a brief hearing in Phoenix on Tuesday.

"This was the verdict I was hoping for," said Amy Dewey, who lived with DeVault and Harrell for a few months in the late 1990s. Dewey was once a friend of DeVault until their relationship fell apart.