By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A Manhattan jury found career criminal Robert Camarano guilty of second-degree murder for killing his girlfriend in their Chelsea apartment in 2008, the New York Post reported.
Camarano, 62, a drug addict who represented himself throughout the bizarre trial, had defended himself by claiming that his live-in girlfriend, Michele Hyams, 60, had stabbed herself in the back of the thigh — the wound that led to her death. Recently the killer had even paid an expert $200-per-hour to testify that Hyam's accidental suicide was a technical possibility.
Prosecutors said Camarano had attacked Hyams after she discovered he'd stolen and sold all her jewelry.
Camarano faces up to 25 years to life in prison for stabbing and strangling Hyams, the Post reported.
"Thank god — justice is done," said Eileen Appel, the victim's former neighbor, the Post reported.
