A jury convicted 23-year-old Brittany Navarra of first degree murder Wednesday in the death of Krista-Rae Pike, according to the Madera Police Department.
Attorneys gave their closing arguments Tuesday and Wednesday for the month-long trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court, after which the jury began deliberation.
The death penalty had been taken off the table earlier in the case’s proceedings. Prosecutors described Navarra as the mastermind behind a plot to kill the 18-year-old Pike on Jan. 14, 2008. Navarra’s boyfriend at the time, 26-year-old Dustin Gran, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole earlier this year for the actual murder. Investigators said he did so under her orders as a Christmas present in exchange for sexual favors.
Navarra wanted Pike dead, authorities said, because of her broken engagement to Thomas Hollier, who dumped Navarra to ask for Pike’s hand in marriage once Pike returned to Madera in late 2007...