Caleb Flynn has been convicted of murdering his wife, Ashley Flynn.
The American Idol alum broke down in tears as the jury announced its verdict Sept. 29, after nearly three hours of deliberation.
Flynn was found guilty of one count of aggravated murder, three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and three counts of tampering with evidence. He had pleaded not guilty.
“We have deep respect for the jury system in the United States,” Flynn’s attorney, L. Patrick Mulligan, told Oxygen. “At the same time, we are disappointed with the results. Not all juries answer questions correctly. I am confident that this decision by the jury will be tested as many times as is required during the appeal process, which will undoubtedly begin after sentencing.”
Miami County Common Pleas Judge Jeannine Pratt said Flynn will be sentenced Oct. 5. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Flynn closed his eyes as he was handcuffed and led from the silent courtroom, ending the nearly two-week trial.
Prosecutors argued that Flynn killed Ashley on Feb. 16 so he could begin a future with his mistress, Alleigha Botner. They cited more than 100,000 “dark and hateful” text messages exchanged between the two.
In many of those messages, prosecutors said, Flynn described wanting to kill his wife and promised that Feb. 16 would be “a day I’ll never forget.”
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Flynn called 911 that day and reported finding Ashley shot in bed by an alleged intruder. Prosecutors also accused him of staging the scene to make the killing appear to be a burglary.
“The defendant wanted to be a victim,” Miami County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Joseph said during closing arguments Sept. 29. “The evidence shows that he wanted to keep his mistress and have his daughters all to himself.”
“There are other benefits—the evidence showed that being the victim would allow the defendant to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley’s family business,” Joseph continued. “He would benefit from Ashley’s life insurance, and he would keep his position as a worship leader with zero impact to his reputation within the church.”
Joseph rejected the home-invasion theory, pointing to Flynn’s missing 9 mm handgun and the 9 mm bullets recovered at the scene. He also argued that data from Flynn’s electronic devices showed he was awake and moving during a period when he said he had been sleeping.
Defense attorney Patrick Mulligan argued that the prosecution’s case was circumstantial. He pointed to the missing murder weapon, the lack of gunshot-residue testing and the fact that Flynn was allowed to wash his hands after being fingerprinted.
“The issue here isn’t whether he was a good husband or was he an a–hole or any other label you want to put on him—bad husband,” Mulligan said. “That’s not the issue.”
Mulligan did not immediately respond to Oxygen’s request for comment.
