Jury convicts Asbury Perkins of 2015 shooting death of Cynthia Betts, of Vero Beach

VERO BEACH —  Two weeks shy of marking seven years since the fatal shooting of Cynthia Betts, a jury Wednesday voted to convict her killer, Asbury Lee Perkins, of first-degree murder with a firearm.

Betts, 63, was found murdered inside her home in the 2100 block of Seagrape Drive just off State Road A1A in south Indian River County on Nov. 3, 2015.

The day before, she had been shot three times, a jury of nine men and three women were told during a six-day trial.

Perkins, 64, who showed no reaction in court upon hearing the verdict, faces a mandatory prison term of life in prison without the possibility of parole at his Nov. 16 sentencing.

The jury deliberated for an hour before reaching a verdict at noon Wednesday.

Cynthia Betts’ sister, Georgette Betts, cried and hugged her sister-in-law, Tammy Betts, as the jury was released. Both had traveled from New Jersey to attend the trial at the Indian River County Courthouse.

The guilty verdict, Georgette Betts said, meant justice for her sister and their family.

“My sister is at peace. He took her away from her whole family so unnecessarily,” she said. “He had so many opportunities to walk out, leave her, and live his life the way he wanted to live it and instead he decided to kill her.”

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Betts’ murder was discovered after her now-deceased father, William Betts, called the Indian River County Sheriff's Office asking for a deputy to check on her at the home she had shared on and off with Perkins since their divorce in 2009.

A deputy who visited early in the day left a note on the door when no one answered.

When deputies returned later and first encountered Perkins — who appeared inebriated wearing only boxer shorts — he said Betts was away visiting relatives in New Jersey.

After deputies confirmed that wasn't true, they kicked in the front door and found Betts' body on the floor of the laundry room with bullet wounds.

Her hands were tied with garbage bags and her body was wrapped in a rug. In a bedroom, deputies found blood on a bed and a .38-caliber pistol on a dresser.

Assistant State Attorney William Long, during Wednesday’s closing arguments, called Betts’ killing a premeditated “execution.”

“He went to a locked safe, got a gun and killed his (former) wife,” Long said. “This case is that simple.”

Long urged jurors to reject Perkins’ claims of being insane at the time of the murder.

“This was an angry man, that’s why he did this,” Long said. “We’re not talking about insanity. We’re talking about a person who chose to kill another person.”

To prove the case, Long presented 94 exhibits and 17 witnesses, including a mental health expert who testified that Perkins was sane at the time he killed Betts.

Betts and Perkins, who married in 1992, had a long history of domestic violence, which included at least one restraining order against Perkins, court records show.

During their 24-year relationship, the two had shared a business, a parts brokerage firm named Target Electronics Inc., that dissolved after Betts' murder.

Throughout the trial, Perkins represented himself as his own attorney and never denied killing Betts.

In his closing remarks, Perkins suggested the murder was “a sudden impulse killing” done with “no planning or design.”

He acknowledged that his relationship with Betts had been degrading, that he’d been getting counseling and he’d been angry when she wanted him to return a ring he wanted to keep.

“The ring wasn’t a motive, but it was a catalyst,” he said.

He claimed he wasn’t in his right mind when he shot Betts and recalled little afterwards.

“Really, the last thing that I remember of the shooting incident, was us crouching down. Me, you know, firing the last two shots,” he said. “I do remember vaguely pulling her body into the laundry room.”

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Perkins also was convicted of attempted escape for making a brief but failed attempt to escape custody after his arrest by leaving an interrogation room at the Sheriff’s Office when a deputy went to get him water.

After court, Long lauded the verdict and credited the prior work by Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor, who prosecuted the protracted case for several years.

“He put in a lot of effort for me to be able to argue the case to the jury,” Long said. “The biggest thing is to be able to get justice for the family and hopefully it’s the last they’ll ever have to deal with this case.”

Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Cynthia Betts' killer Asbury Perkins guilty of 2015 fatal shooting