Jury acquits Stillwater woman of murder, but convicts her of murder conspiracy

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- A Payne County jury on Thursday acquitted a Stillwater woman of first-degree murder but found her guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the slaying of her husband.

Jennifer Jo Paeyeneers, 25, was accused in the death of Floyd Thomas Paeyeneers, who was shot four times after answering a door knock on Nov. 29, 1999.

The jury of eight women and four men will return Monday to determine what punishment to recommend to District Judge Donald Worthington. Conspiracy to commit murder carries a maximum 10-year prison term.

Paeyeneers had denied any involvement in the death, but she told the jury she had a later sexual relationship with the man who was to admit to killing her husband.

She told police initially that the night of the slaying, her husband had refused a beggar's earlier request for a handout and that she had thought that person might have killed him.

Paeyeneers' co-defendant, Philip E. Meadows, testified against her. Meadows, 19, claimed that he and Paeyeneers had started an affair months before the slaying and that they had discussed ways to kill her husband.

Meadows said he had an agreement with prosecutors that they would recommend a life sentence with a chance for parole if he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and testified against Paeyeneers. He has not entered a plea.

Meadows told jurors that Paeyeneers could not divorce her husband because her family objected. They discussed drugging her husband or hiring a hit man to kill him, Meadows said.

Paeyeneers denied all of Meadows' claims. She said their relationship didn't involve sex until Feb. 14, 2000, about 10 weeks after her husband's death, she said.

The two were arrested Feb. 17. Paeyeneers said the two exchanged letters in jail but that she didn't know who killed her husband until learning that Meadows had confessed on March 21.