Man convicted in multi-state murder-for-hire case involving former CHP captain
By Lysée Mitri, Daniel Macht
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BURKESVILLE, Kentucky (KCRA) — On Friday, a jury found Thomas O’Donnell guilty of murdering the estranged husband of a California Highway Patrol Commander.
After a week of testimony from dozens of people from all over the country, it took the jury at the Cumberland County courthouse in Kentucky just two hours to return with a verdict.
O’Donnell of Napa was convicted of the 2022 murder of Michael Harding, who was in the middle of a contentious divorce with CHP Capt. Julie Harding.
Things moved quickly in court on Friday.
The jury’s verdict came after the prosecution called its final witnesses and rested its case in the morning. Afterwards, the defense called just one witness, a DNA expert, before resting its case as well.
Then, jurors heard closing arguments.
“Julie came up with a plan involving another man and Tom,” said Sara Zeurcher, O’Donnell’s defense attorney. “Tom was involved with this plan but did not intend for this result to happen.
There has been no proof he had any idea that Michael Harding would be murdered.”
“There’s no evidence someone else killed him,” said Prosecutor Jesse Stockton. “All this evidence points to this amateur hitman from California. Do your duty. Find him guilty of murder.”
Prosecutors say Julie paid O’Donnell to murder Michael as the couple fought over money and property amid the divorce.
They say O’Donnell used a prepaid cell phone to lure Michael to a vacant house in Kentucky with a fake HVAC repair call before shooting him four times.
Prosecutors also say that DNA and phone data place O’Donnell at the scene on September 19, 2022.
However, during cross-examination by the defense, a detective testified on Friday that investigators never recovered the murder weapon.
Detective B.J. Burton with the Kentucky State Police said investigators recovered four guns throughout the course of their investigation.
“Were any of those the murder weapon?” the defense asked.
“No ma’am, we never recovered the murder weapon, the key fob or the prepaid phone,” Det. Burton said.
Instead, prosecutors focused on ammunition, specifically Hornady Critical Defense.
Jurors heard testimony that the reddish-orange color at the center of that brand of ammunition was found in Michael’s wound path during an autopsy, a similar shell casing was found at the scene and detectives found a full box of that ammunition in O’Donnell’s truck.
They also said they recovered one of Michael’s guns from O’Donnell’s truck.
Meanwhile, the defense admitted that O’Donnell had the prepaid cellphone at some point and that O’Donnell was at that house in Kentucky earlier in the day before the murder, but they said O’Donnell then gave that phone to a third unknown man, who actually carried out the murder.
They said that was largely based on what J.D. Willis told law enforcement. Willis lived near the crime scene, and he said he saw a young man, with short brown hair driving a silver car at the house that day.
KCRA 3 News spoke to that neighbor back in 2022. However, notably, the jury did not hear from him directly on Friday.
They also did not hear from O’Donnell.
After the jury’s ultimate decision was announced, KCRA spoke to Michael’s family.
“We got a guilty verdict for murder, and I think right now we’re just both in shock, happy but in shock,” said Heather Cavalieri, Michael’s daughter.
For different reasons, O’Donnell’s family had a similar reaction.
“It’s a little shocking,” O’Donnell’s sister, Sharon Goldberg, said. “I know my brother’s definitely not a murderer, so I was a little shocked that murder was the actual charge he was convicted of.”
The jury could have instead found O’Donnell guilty of complicity of murder or the criminal facilitation of murder because the defense claimed he did not pull the trigger, that he was set up by Julie.
The defense said Julie knows what really happened, but she died by suicide months after the murder.
Following O’Donnell’s conviction, the court will now move straight into the penalty phase on Monday. That is another thing the jury will weigh in on.
64-year-old O’Donnell faces anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.
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