GUILTY VA - Helen Hargan, 23, Pamela Hargan, 63, Staged Murder-Suicide, McLean, 14 July 2017 *Guilty again in 2023*

[ilovewings]

It's not a question of guilt as the jury convicted MH of double homicide. The new trial is due to juror misconduct.

I understand the case was overturned due to jury misconduct. With a second trial approaching, the question is, will this 2nd jury find her guilty? I mentioned my feelings that I believe she is guilty, now a 2nd jury has to make a decision as to her guilt or innocence, and I hope they make the right one---she is pretty devious.

 

[NanZDrew]

I understand the case was overturned due to jury misconduct. With a second trial approaching, the question is, will this 2nd jury find her guilty? I mentioned my feelings that I believe she is guilty, now a 2nd jury has to make a decision as to her guilt or innocence, and I hope they make the right one---she is pretty devious.

I hope they find her guilty. So frustrating that a juror would do this. Such an evil woman.

 

[JerseyGirl]

New trial for woman accused of killing mom, sister reaches crucial point | FOX 5 DC

The fate of a woman accused of killing her mother and sister is now in the hands of jurors.

www.fox5dc.com

 

[Seattle1]

New trial for woman accused of killing mom, sister reaches crucial point | FOX 5 DC

The fate of a woman accused of killing her mother and sister is now in the hands of jurors.

www.fox5dc.com

From the quoted news link:

9/20/23

Prosecutors also pointed out Wednesday, that if Megan did not kill her mother and sister, then she should have been the only person in the home that day who did not have gun residue on her hands. Evidence submitted in court revealed Megan’s hands had gun residue hours after the shooting.

"Killing your mom is a place of desperation," a defense attorney representing Megan told jurors Wednesday.

Megan’s defense team argues prosecutors have not proven their theory and the entire case is circumstantial, dependent on "bad investigative work." Instead, they suggest Helen killed the sisters’ mother, Pamela, over a dispute regarding Helen’s boyfriend.

"It’s possible Helen killed herself," an attorney for Megan said. "Possible does not equal ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’."

Jurors were dismissed Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. and instructed to return Thursday morning to begin deliberations around 10 a.m.

 

[Seattle1]

On March 28, 2022, jurors voted unanimously to convict Megan Hargan of McLean in the shooting deaths of her mother, Pamela Hargan, 63, a successful defense contractor executive, and her younger sister, Helen Hargan, 23, a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University.

Megan, 39, was found guilty on all counts, including first-degree murder.

It was later revealed that one of the jurors, Tasha Nix, told a defense team investigator that during the trial she went home and used a rifle to test the defense theory that Helen used her toe to pull the trigger on the .22 rifle to take her own life, NBC Washington reports.

She concluded that this was not possible, especially since the medical examiner determined that Helen was shot in the top of the head.

 

[Seattle1]

Sep 29, 2022 #48hours #truecrime #cbsnews

Megan Hargan was suspected of killing her mother and sister. Her defense had an unusual theory: her sister was the one who pulled the trigger – with her toe. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports Saturday, June 3 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Editor's note: On Nov. 9, 2022, a judge overturned Megan Hargan’s double murder conviction, citing juror misconduct. A juror disobeyed the judge’s instruction not to do outside research and shared her findings with other jurors. Hargan’s retrial is scheduled for Sept. 5, 2023.

 

[Seattle1]

Jury to deliberate in second trial of murder suspect Megan Hargan

A judge threw out her conviction last year after a misconduct by a juror.

www.wusa9.com

 

[JerseyGirl]

Jury deliberations in trial of Virginia woman accused of killing mother, sister will enter a second day

Articles and videos about Jury deliberations in trial of Virginia woman accused of killing mother, sister will enter a second day on FOX 5 DC.

www.fox5dc.com

 

[Seattle1]

9/21/23

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Jury deliberations in the murder trial of a northern Virginia woman will enter a second day.

No verdict was reached after more than six hours of deliberations in the second trial for Megan Hargan, a Fairfax County woman accused of murdering her mother and sister back in 2017.

[..]

When police began investigating the deaths of the two women on July 14, 2017, they initially believed it to be a murder-suicide. But police later announced that they believed the murder-suicide scene had been staged and that Megan had shot both women.


During the 2022 trial, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting Megan was angry because she believed her mother Pamela favored her younger sister Helen after Pamela did not make a $400,000 wire transfer to purchase a home for Megan.

Closing arguments concluded Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors suggesting that Megan attempted fraudulent money transfers from her mother’s account on the day of the murders and the day before.

Evidence submitted in court also revealed Megan’s hands had gun residue on them hours after the shooting.

[..]

Jurors are expected to return to the courthouse at 10 a.m. Friday.

Jury deliberations in trial of Virginia woman accused of killing mother, sister will enter a second day

Articles and videos about Jury deliberations in trial of Virginia woman accused of killing mother, sister will enter a second day on FOX 5 DC.

www.fox5dc.com

 

[Seattle1]

McLean woman found guilty of killing her mother, sister in 2017

Megan Hargan faced first-degree murder and firearms charges for the deaths of 63-year-old Pamela Hargan and 23-year-old Helen Hargan.

www.wusa9.com

Updated: 4:35 PM EDT September 22, 2023

MCLEAN, Va. — A jury in Fairfax County on Friday found Megan Hargan guilty of killing her mother and sister in McLean in July 2017.

Megan Hargan faced first-degree murder and firearms charges for the deaths of 63-year-old Pamela Hargan and 23-year-old Helen Hargan.

This was the second trial after Judge Brett Kassabian overturned Hargan’s conviction in November after he learned a jury member re-enacted the defense’s claim that Helen shot herself, which is considered a misconduct.

"At the end of the day, real justice would be for these people to be back with us. In many ways, the justice system getting a guilty verdict doesn't feel whole but at least we can give the surviving family members a sense of accountability and provide a path to healing," Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said Friday.

Defense attorney Bryan Kennedy maintained it was Helen who killed her mother using a rifle before turning the gun on herself by pulling the trigger using her toe. During his closing arguments, he said the prosecution failed to exclude that as a possibility.

Prosecutor Kelsey Gill described Megan as a liar and entitled woman who was jealous her mother was going to buy her sister a new home. She painstakingly covered the timeline of events which she used to argue that Megan killed her mother by shooting her twice in an attempt to fraud her of hundreds of thousands of dollars to close on a new home in West Virginia.

 

[Seattle1]

Virginia woman convicted of killing mother, sister in 2nd trial after murder-suicide claim

A McLean, Virginia, woman was found guilty of killing her mother and sister after her case was heard for a second time.

www.nbcwashington.com

Published September 22, 2023 • Updated on September 22, 2023 at 5:46 pm​

A McLean, Virginia, woman was found guilty of killing her mother and sister after her case was heard for a second time.

In a verdict Friday, a jury found Megan Hargan guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2017 shooting deaths of her mother, 63-year-old business executive Pamela Hargan, and her sister, 23-year-old Helen Hargan. Prosecutors said Megan Hargan staged the crime scene to look like a murder-suicide committed by her sister.

Megan Hargan was found guilty last year but a judge threw out the verdict after a juror was found to have done outside research, amounting to jury misconduct. The juror said she used a rifle at home to try to determine if it was physically possible for Helen Hargan to have killed herself, Megan Hargan’s defense attorneys said.

The second guilty verdict comes amid years of heartbreak for the family, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said.

“When the first conviction was vacated, I promised that my office would continue to fight for justice for the Hargan family and for the community, and today we have obtained that outcome. Today’s guilty verdict has been a long time coming, and I hope [that] Pam and Helen’s loved ones will be able to take one step closer to healing,” he said in a statement.

[..]

Megan Hargan is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26. She faces up to life in prison.

 

[Seattle1]

Sep 22, 2023
A Fairfax County jury has found Megan Hargan, the woman accused of murdering her mother and sister in 2017, guilty on all counts. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26.

 

[Seattle1]

Woman killed mother, sister inside McLean home in 2017, jury finds in retrial - WTOP News

A Fairfax County, Virginia, jury has again found Megan Hargan guilty of killing her mother Pamela and younger sister Helen in 2017.

wtop.com

9/22/23

A Fairfax County, Virginia, jury has again found a West Virginia woman guilty of killing her mother and younger sister in 2017, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Friday.

Megan Hargan, 40, was convicted of first-degree murder in March 2022, but the conviction was vacated later that year due to juror misconduct.

The double slaying happened the afternoon of July 14, 2017, inside the McLean home of Hargan’s 63-year-old mother, Pamela, where all three were living at the time. Descano’s office said in a news release that Megan shot her younger sister, 24-year-old Helen Hargan, and her mother and staged it to look like a murder-suicide, saying Helen killed their mom before killing herself.

According to evidence presented at the retrial, Megan and her sister Helen were both looking for new houses, and Megan was upset that her mother was helping out Helen financially, but not her.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[NanZDrew]

This was such a sad case. What an evil person Megan is. I believe her little girl was present as this happened?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“Megan Hargan’s actions in July 2017 go beyond what most of us can imagine. On a quiet Friday morning in her mother’s home, she made an irreversible decision — one that would devastate her family and tear the community apart,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said.

“This was a complicated case to prosecute, and we would not be here today without the detectives, witnesses and family members who persisted through two lengthy, emotional trials. I want to express my gratitude for their resolve in bringing this case to justice,” Descano said

Life in prison for woman who murdered her mother and sister inside McLean family home - WTOP News

The woman who was found guilty of the 2017 murder of her mother and sister inside a McLean, Virginia, home received two consecutive life sentences Friday.

wtop.com

 

[ilovewings]

This was such a sad case. What an evil person Megan is. I believe her little girl was present as this happened?

I just watched this case: Megan is so evil. Glad she will spend the rest of her miserable life in prison.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“First-degree murder is the most serious offense you can be convicted of in Virginia, and [Friday’s] sentence reflects the gravity of the defendant’s crimes.”

Woman Driven by Jealousy to Kill Sister and Mom, Then Stage Scene as Murder-Suicide, Receives Sentence

Megan Hargan, whose first conviction was vacated, was again found guilty of killing her mother, Pamela, and sister, Helen, in 2017.

people.com