Phila. man convicted of girlfriend's death

The man accused of killing and mutilating the body of his live-in girlfriend to make room for a new woman was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Eric Nathaniel Johnson, 38, in the 2007 murder of Jean Jackson.

Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also found guilty of possessing a weapon and abuse of a corpse.

Jackson's body was found in the corner of an empty lot on the 3000 block of Witte Street in Port Richmond on March 31, 2007. Testimony from police and crime-scene investigators indicated that the body had been tampered with by the killer to disguise her identity.

During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber painted the victim as a mentally challenged woman trapped in an abusive relationship with Johnson.

She accused Johnson of killing Jackson, 40, so he could begin a relationship with another woman. The new girlfriend had arrived in Philadelphia from the Boston area several days before Jackson's body was found.

"The circumstantial evidence was absolutely overwhelming that the defendant was very intent on causing pain and eventually death to this poor woman," Selber said yesterday.

Jackson moved from Massachusetts to Philadelphia to be with Johnson in September 2006. They lived together in an apartment in the 2000 block of East Clearfield Street, several blocks away from where Jackson's body was discovered.

Johnson's attorney, William Bowe, declined to comment on Monday's verdict but did say he planned to appeal.