A Cleveland, Ohio jury found an ER doctor guilty of aggravated murder Friday for poisoning his wife, causing her to die in a car crash five years ago.
When Dr. Yazeed Essa's wife, Rosemarie Essa, crashed into another car and died Feb. 24, 2005, investigators had no idea they were working a crime scene. Shortly after the crash, Yazeed Essa fled the country to Lebanon, where he allegedly bragged about the crime.
A jury heard three weeks of testimony and the state's claim that Dr. Essa laced his wife's calcium supplements with cyanide. She then got in her SUV and collapsed, causing the fatal accident.
In 2009, after friends say he spent nearly four years having sex with prostitutes and speaking openly about how he killed his wife because she cheated on him, Essa returned to Cleveland to face murder charges. Essa, who was an emergency room doctor in Gates Mills, Ohio, was living under a false identity in the Middle East.
As the jury returned from deliberations, family members of Rosemarie Essa joined hands then hugged prosecutors and police officers when the verdict was read.
Yazeed Essa's family declined to comment. The doctor's attorney, Mark Marein, spoke briefly to reporters, saying he and his client were "disappointed."
Essa faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 20 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 9.
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