Ex-Midshipman Found Guilty In Murder Of Rival -- Diane Zamora Had Told Friends She Helped Fiance Kill Girl But Then Tearfully Said She Wasn't Involved

FORT WORTH, Texas - Former Naval Academy midshipman Diane Zamora - who confessed to helping her fiance kill his one-time lover, then tearfully told a jury she wasn't involved - was found guilty today of capital murder.

Zamora, 20, automatically received a life sentence because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. She will be eligible for parole in 40 years, counting time she has already spent behind bars.

The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for six hours yesterday, then needed only minutes this morning to convict Zamora of the Dec. 4, 1995, slaying of 16-year-old Adrianne Jones. They rejected lesser charges of kidnapping, assault and false imprisonment.

Zamora's face was blank as state District Judge Joe Drago polled jurors and was devoid of emotion even as the victim's parents and her two brothers spoke to the court. Many in the courtroom dabbed their eyes as the family spoke.

`This has been taken away'

"We all loved and enjoyed Adrianne very much," the victim's father, Bill Jones, said, his voice choked with emotion. "We all looked forward to a life with her. This has been taken away. . . . We will never know what heights she would have (risen) to because of this animal act. And we shall have to wonder the rest of our lives."

Jones was killed allegedly over a one-time encounter with Zamora's fiance, former Air Force Academy cadet David Graham. Graham and Zamora were high-school seniors at the time.

Both graduated with honors and earned prestigious spots in military academies the next year, she at the Naval Academy, he at the Air Force Academy. But they were arrested in September 1996 when Zamora's academy roommates reported she had admitted to a killing.

Graham is to be tried on a capital-murder charge later this year.

Wrapping up her case before the jury yesterday, prosecutor Michele Hartmann called Zamora a "sociopath" and told jurors not to forget a parade of witnesses who testified that she had confessed to them.

Zamora said they all either lied or were mistaken.

"Whom can we believe?" Hartmann said. "By her words, she is the victim of the justice system, a lying best friend, a lying roommate, an abusive boyfriend and even of the U.S. Naval Academy."

Defense attorneys tried to portray Zamora as a polite, ambitious, academic all-star who became a victim of mental and sexual abuse by Graham, whom they described as manipulative and domineering.

While admitting she was present when Jones died, Zamora testified that she did not strike the girl and was horrified when Graham pulled the trigger.

"The crook of his arm went out and I heard gunshots go off," Zamora testified, adding that she saw Jones collapse in a field. "It was like a horror movie."

She said she confessed to protect Graham, adding that police gave her his statement, which she memorized and repeated under duress. Prosecutors noted that her confession was more detailed than his and included her demand to Graham that he "just do it!"

Dumbbell weight

In his closing statement, defense attorney John Linebarger pleaded with jurors to remember testimony that his client could not have hit Jones over the head with a dumbbell weight, as prosecutors contend.

"There is no evidence to suggest that Miss Jones was hit over the head with anything but the butt of a gun (that) we know was in the hands of David Graham, not Diane Zamora," Linebarger said.

"She didn't help. She didn't assist. It was David Graham."

Both Graham and Zamora said in their statements to police that the killing was an attempt to "purify" their relationship after Graham had a one-time fling with the victim.