A Carlsbad woman and a U.S. Marine veteran and trained sharpshooter blamed the judge, prosecutors, family members, acquaintances and police detectives when they spoke Wednesday before their sentencing on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.
Diana Lovejoy was convicted of hiring her firearms instructor, Weldon McDavid Jr., to shoot her estranged husband, Gregory Mulvihill.
The September 2016 shooting involved a contentious and expensive legal battle over child custody between Lovejoy and Mulvihill.
Mulvihill was lured to an isolated access road off Avenida Soledad by Lovejoy and McDavid by offering documents in a contentious child custody that the victim “would want to see."
Before she was sentenced to 26 years to life behind bars, Lovejoy openly cried in court.
She said she felt she didn’t have a voice in her trial and maintained she is not capable of the crime of which she’s convicted.
“I would never take [my son’s] father away from him,” Lovejoy said while sobbing. “I would never be able to do that. “
Lovejoy accused the detective in charge of the case of lying and described a family member who testified in the trial as manipulative and horrible.
Lovejoy hired McDavid to teach her gun skills and install a security system in her home.
Before the judge sentenced him to 50 years to life, McDavid made a statement in court. He disputed several pieces of testimony and said his only hope is that this will be rectified on appeal.
“The jury got it wrong,” McDavid said.
While denying his guilt, he also disputed anyone who said he has not expressed remorse.
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“I did not intend to shoot Mr. Mulvihill. It was an aiming error as I stated previously,” McDavid said. “There was no intent to kill. That’s not who I am.”
He added that he was such a skilled shooter that he could’ve turned his head away and would have struck Mulvihill in the center of his chest.
“If I intended to kill Mr. Mulvihill he would’ve been dead, “ he said.
As the court clerk was reading the jury's verdict, Lovejoy appeared to be stunned when she heard the verdict of guilty on counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
While the clerk moved on to the verdict for the co-defendant, Lovejoy leaned to the side of her chair and then appeared to faint.
Judge Sim Von Kalinowski ordered the courtroom cleared while emergency personnel attended to Lovejoy.
A bailiff handcuffed McDavid who sat just a few feet away.
When court resumed approximately a half hour later, the verdict was read for McDavid - guilty of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was also found guilty of intentionally discharging a firearm with intent to inflict great bodily injury.
