Jennifer Pan guilty of murder in phoney home invasion

Jennifer Pan has been found guilty of both first-degree murder and attempted murder in the phoney home invasion that targeted her parents because they disapproved of her boyfriend.

The jury returned the verdicts in a packed Newmarket, Ont., courtroom on Saturday afternoon after four days of deliberations.

Pan, 28, dropped her head and looked down in silence as the verdict was read. She thensobbed as the judge set her sentencing for Jan. 23.

The murder conviction brings an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

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Panwas charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the attack that killed her mother, 53-year-old Bieh Ha Pan, and left her father, 60-year-old Hann Pan, with a critical head wound.

Three others Lenford Crawford, David Mylvaganam and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Daniel Wong were charged with the same offences in the Nov. 8, 2010 slaying at the Pan's Markham, Ont., home.

The three co-accused were also found guilty on all charges.

Pan's lawyer, Paul Cooper, told reporters she is "devastated" by the verdict and plans to appeal.

"This whole event is a tragedy for her whole family, including herself," Cooper said.

Forced to choose

Prosecutors alleged Pan hatched the plan after her parents forced her to choose between them and Wong, her high-school sweetheart turned drug dealer.

They said Wong and Crawford acted as go-betweens for Pan and the people who carried out the attack.

Pan testified she hired people to kill her, not her parents, and called off the deal days before the incident.

She told the court three men broke into the family's home to commit a robbery, tied her up and shot her parents.

Wong and Crawford's lawyers said their clients weren't at the house that night, and argued there was insufficient evidence to prove they were part of a murder plot.

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Mylvaganam admitted he was at the home, but said he didn't go inside, nor did he shoot anyone.

A fifth co-accused, Eric Carty, is to be tried separately after his lawyer fell ill during the 10-month trial.