Murder conviction for Md. teacher

A Baltimore County jury has convicted a former English teacher of killing her estranged husband and trying to kill their teenage daughter.

Jurors rejected arguments that 60-year-old Mary Koontz was mentally ill when she shot Ronald Koontz at his home in Glen Arm in June 2009.

Koontz was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in her husband's death and first-degree attempted murder for firing at their then-16-year-old daughter, Kelsey, who was not injured.

Kelsey Koontz, now 17, cried after the verdicts were announced and later described herself as “relieved.” Ronald Koontz worked for more than 30 years in the county school system, mostly as an administrator.

Prosecutors argued that Koontz prepared meticulously for the “sneak attack” on her husband.

-- The Baltimore Sun