Joseph Ferlazzo pictured during his arraignment via video in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. File photo by Glenn Russell/VT DiggerBURLINGTON — Rejecting a claim of self-defense, a jury has convicted a New Hampshire man of first-degree murder in the October 2021 fatal shooting of his wife in their camper in Bolton. The couple had traveled to Vermont to meet up with relatives to mark their one-year wedding anniversary.The 12-person panel returned the verdict Friday against 44-year-old Joseph Ferlazzo in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington. The verdict followed a weeklong trial and five hours of jury deliberations over parts of two days, which included listening to a roughly 50-minute playback of his testimony.The jury also could have considered two lesser charges: second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.Ferlazzo, a tattoo artist from Northfield, New Hampshire, has been held in custody since his October 2021 arrest in the death of his 22-year-old wife, Emily, who worked as a nurse.The prosecution argued during the trial that Ferlazzo shot and killed his wife following an argument in their camper, hours after they arrived in Bolton on the evening of Oct. 15, 2021.After the killing, Ferlazzo spent days covering up the crime as authorities searched for his missing wife, according to the prosecution. Her dismembered remains were recovered in the camper after Ferlazzo was taken into custody four days after the killing, when he was spotted by a state trooper at a St. Albans convenience store.Ferlazzo’s defense team contended throughout the trial that he acted in self-defense, though in a video confession from Ferlazzo — recorded when he was questioned by authorities four days after the killing — he made no mention of his self-defense claim, nor of an alleged threat that he would later claim his wife had made against him.A sentencing date for Ferlazzo was not immediately available. A conviction of first-degree murder carries a sentence of at least 35 years behind bars and up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George, who prosecuted the case, said following the verdict Friday that she was still considering what sentence she would ask Judge John Pacht to impose.“There is a mandatory minimum of 35 years,” George said. “I think Mr. Ferlazzo taking the stand and saying the things that he did, attempting to blame Emily for this, will, in my mind, be an aggravating factor that would lead me to ask for more than a mandatory minimum.” Ferlazzo’s defense team declined comment after the verdict. During the trial the prosecution played the more than two-hour recording for the jury and presented several witnesses to rebut the defense, including law enforcement officials involved in the investigation as well as cell phone and forensic experts. The defense called just one witness, Joseph Ferlazzo.He testified that when his wife was in bed in the camper and they were arguing, she pulled out a Taurus handgun from behind a pillow and said to him, “That’s it, you’re dead.” That’s when, he testified, he used a Glock firearm he had in hand to shoot and kill her. Margaret Jansch, Ferlazzo’s defense attorney, asked her client why he didn’t tell investigators that he acted in self-defense when he was questioned by them about it more than three years ago. “I don’t remember talking to the police,” he testified Wednesday, adding that his memory of what took place the night of the shooting has returned to him over time as “flashbacks.”Chittenden County Deputy State’s Attorney Sally Adams, a prosecutor, asked Ferlazzo on cross-examination if he ever called 911 after shooting his wife.“No,” he replied.“You had another drink,” the prosecutor said to him.“I sat with Emily for a while before drinking more,” he responded. In response to many other questions from the prosecutor about his actions spanning several days following his wife’s fatal shooting, he repeatedly replied in his testimony, “I don’t remember.”The prosecutor ended her cross-examination of Ferlazzo by listing a string of lies he admitted telling others about his wife’s whereabouts following the fatal shooting.“And you’re lying today,” Adams said to him as he sat on the witness stand.“About?” Ferlazzo asked the prosecutor.“Everything,” Adams replied. “I’m sitting here giving you my recall of what I have to work with,” he told her.The couple had traveled in their camper to Vermont to spend time on their first wedding anniversary in Bolton. There, they visited with Joseph Ferlazzo’s sister and her boyfriend, who had rented an Airbnb near the ski resort, according to charging documents. After the verdict was read Friday, Pacht, the judge, gave Ferlazzo’s defense team until January 15 to file any post-trial motions and gave the prosecution three weeks after that to submit any responses.Read the story on VTDigger here: Jury convicts New Hampshire man of first-degree murder in fatal shooting of his wife in Bolton.