A Jackson County jury convicted Roseann Osborne of first-degree murder and conspiracy in Circuit Court last Friday for her role in the brutal murder of her husband at Ravenswood Riverfront Park.

The jury, which deliberated for nearly four hours, included a recommendation of mercy with their first-degree murder verdict.

Osborne, 27, was arrested and charged with felony counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy for conspiring with Larry Samuel White, 35, to murder her husband, Mohamed Mahrous, with a hammer on the night of September 17, 2007, at Ravenswood Riverfront Park.

White was convicted on December 20 for his role in the crime.

The verdict capped a three-day trial in which the state, led by Prosecuting Attorney Jim McHugh, detailed the means by which Osborne lured her husband to the state and led him to believe they were reconciling their marriage while she was working with White to plan his death.

“Mohamed left his life in North Carolina to come to West Virginia,” McHugh said in his closing. “Mohamed was rewarded with deceit, manipulation and a hammer to the side of the head.”

McHugh said that just hours before the murder, Mahrous was discussing floor plans for a new home with Osborne, while she was working to have him killed.

“As Mohamed was planning the defendant’s house, the defendant and Sam White planned his death,” McHugh said.

The state called several witnesses to describe how Osborne openly talked of killing Mahrous prior to the murder.

Julie Emmert, who worked at Shoney’s in September 2007 with Osborne, testified that when she and Osborne met, Osborne asked if Emmert had a husband, to which Emmert replied she did not. Osborne’s reply shocked Emmert.

“She said, ‘You’re lucky, because I want to kill mine,’” Emmert said.

Angelina Barney, an acquaintance of White and Osborne’s at the time, testified that White and Osborne talked several times about killing Mahrous.

“Mohamed was a nuisance to her and Sam’s relationship,” she testified. “She said that her and Sam’s relationship could not be stable and go on and be at peace if Mohamed were not out of the picture.

“Roseann stated that Mohamed would need to be killed for them to be together,” Barney said.
Some of the methods she said they discussed were cutting the brake lines in Mahrous’s truck or hitting him then tossing his body off an overpass in front of a transfer truck.

Barney also said that in the week prior to the murder, Osborne showed her a package of crushed up pills that she said she would slip into Mahrous’s drink.

In his closing argument, McHugh said the motive behind the murder was a custody petition Mahrous filed earlier in the year which granted him custody of the couple’s children on a rotating basis every six weeks. That, he said, interfered with Osborne’s affair with White.

“Ten months of bliss without Mohamed came to a screeching halt,” McHugh said.

“She simply wanted Sam; she wanted Mohamed dead,” he continued. “She didn’t love two men; she loved herself.”

McHugh demonstrated to the jury just how close Osborne and Mahrous were sitting when White attacked. He noted that Osborne had no blood on her after the murder, indicating that she did not go to check on her husband as he lay bleeding in the park.

McHugh also pointed out that when Osborne called 911, she did not ask for an ambulance, only for the police.

“It’s a tragic case: a cold-blooded murder,” McHugh said.

Osborne’s defense counsel, Kevin Lawson, Kevin Postalwait and Susan Settle, did not present any witnesses in Osborne’s defense.

In closing, Postalwait argued that the state had not offered sufficient evidence that Osborne plotted the crime and said her prior statements about killing Mohamed were made in the heat of the moment.

“Everyone’s said some things maybe we shouldn’t’ have when we’re upset,” he said. “The evidence in this case is not consistent with a premeditated murder in which Roseann Osborne aided, abetted and conspired.”

He argued that Osborne’s actions following the crime, in which she told police that a stranger murdered Mahrous, were caused by her shock of witnessing what had happened.

“Roseann witnessed her husband murdered by her lover in front of her face…she was stricken with grief and was upset,” he said. “Merely witnessing a crime without interfering does not make a person party to its commission.”

In the end, the jury found Osborne guilty of the murder and conspiracy. With their recommendation of mercy, Osborne will be eligible for parole after 15 years served on the murder charge.

Osborne faces an additional one to five years to be served on the conspiracy charge.

Following the verdict, a hearing was scheduled for Thursday, February 26, at 9:00 a.m. to allow the defense to file post-trial motions.

If post-trial motions are denied, Judge Thomas C. Evans, III, will impose sentence at that time.