Guilty plea
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 17, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Ann Metzger is led into a Wayne County courtroom Monday. The wife of convicted murderer Gary Metzger pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for her role in the 2011 death of her sister-in-law.
Five months after her husband was convicted of murdering his sister in 2011, Ann Metzger pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for her role in the death of Jean Metzger Hubbard.
But unlike her husband, Gary, Mrs. Metzger will not spend the rest of her life in prison.
In fact, she could be set free in 12 years.
Monday's plea deal was a far cry from the emotional trial that unfolded late last year inside Courtroom No. 1 -- when then-Assistant District Attorney Matthew Delbridge prosecuted the case on behalf of Mrs. Hubbard, a woman he characterized as a "humble spirit" who deserved the jury's consideration.
Neither a jury nor any consideration were required Monday.
Wayne County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones sentenced Mrs. Metzger, 37, to a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 225 months in prison. Mrs. Metzger will receive credit for time served, dating back to her initial arrest in August 2011.
Prior to the sentencing, Delbridge, now district attorney, told Jones that, after inheriting $50,000, Mrs. Hubbard was systematically bilked out of money by the Metzgers to the point her bank account held a mere $50.
When the money ran out and the harassment by the Metzgers had led to protection orders and no contact orders imposed on Mrs. Metzger by Mrs. Hubbard, the couple killed her.
Testimony during the trial of Gary Metzger showed Mrs. Hubbard disappeared after leaving work one Friday night in July 2011. Several days later, her body was found behind the Metzgers' home in a mobile home park off Country View Drive.
"Her body was wrapped in a sheet with two plastic bags tied over her head," Delbridge said.
ATM receipts and video stills led Goldsboro police to suspect the Metzgers, who fled when police began gathering outside their home to search for the body. After a brief manhunt, the Metzgers were taken into custody and charged.
Delbridge said his office did not pursue a jury trial in the case against Mrs. Metzger because her actions in the commission of the killing would have been harder to prove after her husband's conviction.
"Gary said he acted alone and there is no physical or scientific evidence to dispute that," Delbridge said. "The only direct evidence that she was present when Jean was killed were two jail informants, which are, by nature, subject to attacks on their credibility."
He said a plea deal to second-degree murder carried more time than a conviction to being an accessory after the fact, which he called "the probable outcome if the jury was unable to agree on first-degree."