The 20-year legal saga of Michael George reached another conclusion when he was
found guilty again in the murder of his wife.
As you may recall, George was originally convicted in 2008, but that verdict was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct.
The second trial introduced new evidence from a variety of witnesses who had seen things on the fateful day when Barbara George was shot in the head in the back of the comics shop she and her husband owned, including mysterious cars, people hanging around, and an alibi nap by George on his mother’s sofa.
However, the jury, which had been deliberating since last Thursday, was more convinced by the prosecution’s claims that George planned to kill his wife, collect insurance, and go off with the woman he was having an affair with (now his wife, Renee.)
George was convicted of first-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud, and false pretenses. He’d been released from prison after the first verdict was overturned. More appeals are likely to ensue, however, so the legal wrangling may continue yet.
The family of Barbara George hailed the verdict.
“The family’s ecstatic. There’s no way a jury is going to get this wrong twice,” said Joe Kowynia, 48 of Harrison Township, Barbara’s brother. ” I feel sorry for my nieces, this is long overdue.
“Now that this is over, Barb can rest in peace. And we can move on and he can rot in jail.”
George’s defense attorney, Carl Marlinga, called the news an “awful tragedy.”
“I was convinced that he was innocent. I thought the alibi witnesses were solid.
“I’ll never understand.”
Do Michael and Renee George still own the Pittsburgh Comicon? The official website is kind of void of info pertaining to who is actually promoting it. I would think if someone else was running things, they would want to let everyone know it was no longer connected to a man convicted of killing his own wife.
Yes, Renee still runs the convention.
Its about time! The crime happened 21 years ago and only NOW he’s being convicted for it?!?
Ah well, better late then never…
How quickly do you think Renee will look for another man to fill the void? I give it less then 6 months she’s w/someone else…
What a dickhead thing to say.
For what it’s worth, Renee George was very nice to me when I was a guest at Pittsburgh Comicon, and I’m sure this whole thing is devastating to her family and to the victim’s family.
“I’m sure this whole thing is devastating to her family and to the victim’s family.”
Somehow I’d think Barb’s family, losing her because her scumbag husband was too cheap to divorce like a decent person, is far more devastated than Renee’s family, who only lost a twice convicted murderer.
@ Ridgeley Andrew–think it through. A) comparative misery is a ridiculous proposition–“my cat just died”; “oh yeah, well my DOG just died and he was older than your cat, so my pain is worse”.
B) Renee’s family, who I don’t personally know but understand includes two daughters, is bound to have been devastated by the stress of supporting someone they’ve always known as a father or husband rather than as a “scumbag”. Not to mention the financial repercussions of two trials.
I’m not suggesting he wasn’t guilty, and I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t have the utmost sympathy for the victim’s family. Of course we should. But to somehow assume that the only victims are those related by blood to the deceased is short-sighted.
PLUS. Just having read a little more on the topic, the daughters are from his first marriage. In other words, they’re Barbara George’s children, and they (rightly or wrongly) stood by Renee and Michael, and they must be devastated.
This is so weird. I just saw dateline coverage of this case… but I was NOT convinced that he’d done it. He might have done it – but I really didn’t think there was enough evident to point him as the killer. No one would listen to his mother of course, because everyone is thinking, the mom is gonna lie for her son no matter what. I think that’s unfair. I don’t know, if he was gonna be smart about everything, why would he have picked up the phone or why would he have gone to his mother instead of someone else who wouldn’t need a reason to lie for him. Anyway, I couldn’t believe he was convicted…. Not saying he is NOT the killer but I just didn’t think there was enough evidence to support it and it would be horrible if he turned out to be innocent… I think that both families are definitely affected by this event… I see some of these mindless comments saying who’s suffering more and what not, but that is so insensitive. It’s not their fault that they have a killer in their family. I’ve always felt horrible for the families who have to go through so much turmoil and fingerpointing like some of you already do here at the families of the convicted killers. I hope both families can recover from this tragedy.
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