NANTUCKET, Mass. -- A former New York bank executive on Thursday was found guilty of killing his former girlfriend by a jury that rejected his claim that he was temporarily insane when he stabbed her to death in her island bungalow.
Jurors returned the verdict of guilty of first-degree murder against Thomas Toolan III following about five hours of deliberations over two days. Afterward, Toolan, 39, was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said Toolan killed Elizabeth Lochtefeld, 44, a successful New York entrepreneur, after she rejected his marriage proposal and broke up with him.
Toolan's defense lawyer told jurors that Toolan was suffering from a mental disease and struggling with alcohol addiction when he killed Lochtefeld on Oct. 24, 2004, three days after she turned down his proposal.
Defense experts claimed years of drug and alcohol abuse by Toolan had caused brain damage and left him unable to control his behavior.
But a psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution said Toolan knew his actions were wrong, despite his substance abuse problem.
Toolan, a former Citigroup executive, met Lochtefeld during Labor Day weekend of 2004. The couple had a whirlwind romance, but Lochtefeld broke off their relationship the weekend before she was killed.
Prosecutors said Toolan held Lochtefeld hostage in his New York City apartment the night she broke things off, but she escaped while he was asleep and fled to Nantucket.
Toolan attempted to board a plane bound for Nantucket the day before Lochtefeld was killed, but was stopped after security screeners at New York's LaGuardia Airport found a knife in his coat. The next day, Toolan took another flight to the island, then rented a car and bought a fishing knife at a local store, authorities said.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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