First Posted: 1/15/2009

LUMBERTON - A jury's decision Thursday left Craig Hartman perplexed. He doesn't understand why a jury failed to convict a former employee of trying to kill him two years ago.
Instead, Judy Naylor McPhail, 41, of 1395 Splitrail Drive in Parkton, was convicted this week of conspiring to kill Hartman and was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison. She still faces a murder charge in an unrelated case.
In January, her husband, Donald McPhail, 51, pled guilty to attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, larceny of a firearm, and at least one count of uttering a forged instrument. He was sentenced to serve 10 to 13 years in prison.
They also were each convicted of stealing more than $20,000 by forging a series of checks while Judy McPhail worked as secretary and bookkeeper at Hartman's company, Absolute Bus Company on Kendric Drive. Lawmen say they tried to kill Hartman to cover up that crime.
&#8220I just don't understand the jury's decision,” Hartman said. &#8220They followed me and shot at me three times when I attempted to get out the car. I had a herniated disc and got out of the car slowly and that probably saved my life.”
The buckshot missed him by about 3 inches.
&#8220I feel like she got away with it,” Hartman said. &#8220What do you have to do to be convicted of attempted murder? She wrote out a statement saying that she planned to do it. I was pretty shaken up for two or three months, but eventually I got over it.”
Tiffany Powers, Judy McPhail's defense lawyer, said her client contends that her husband pulled the trigger and that it was his idea.
&#8220I think the jury's verdict was very reasoned and I can absolutely respect their decision,” Powers said.
The trial began Monday and ended Thursday after the jury deliberated about four hours.
The trial was originally set for last September but was delayed after Judy McPhail attempted to kill herself while in the Cumberland County jail. McPhail was in the Cumberland County jail charged in the poisoning death of her stepfather.
Assistant District Attorney Martha Duvall said she thought Thursday's sentence was appropriate.
&#8220Best we can tell the husband took the firearm and the husband was the shooter,” Duvall said. &#8220I believe that justice was served by the verdict because she still got the same amount of time she would've gotten for attempted murder.”
Superior Court Judge Jack Thompson also sentenced Judy McPhail to six to eight months and three years of probation for 21 forgeries, with the prison time being suspended. They were convicted of stealing the money by writing company checks while Hartman was on vacation from Dec. 24, 2003, to Jan. 12, 2004.