By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

As the word guilty echoed four times throughout the courtroom, Winston George’s family embraced each other, tears streaming down their faces.

“These are tears of joy that my brother can rest in peace,” said Whitfield George minutes after his sister-in-law and her brother were found guilty of murdering Winston George two years ago in Old Orchard Beach.

Whitfield George, one of Winston George’s four siblings, sat through two weeks of testimony about a murder scheme prosecutors said was complex but doomed to fail from the start.

Darlene George and Jeffrey Williams showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the verdict following nearly five hours of deliberations Friday. Each was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

During nine days of testimony at York County Superior Court, jurors and Justice G. Arthur Brennan listened to prosecutors lay out a case they said was fueled by greed. Darlene and Winston George each were having affairs and the marriage was failing, said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese. Prosecutors said Darlene George did not want to lose property in a divorce.

“The motive here is greed. It’s pure and simple greed,” Marchese said.

Darlene George called 911 around 5:45 a.m. June 20, 2008, to report she and her 13-year-old son had been tied up by masked intruders in their Smithwheel Road house. The men, speaking in fake Jamaican accents, demanded drugs and money and fought with her husband when he returned home from work, she told police.

Old Orchard Beach police officers found Winston George dead in his basement, hog-tied with a yellow rope and plastic bag tied over his head. A small hole had been cut in the bag and a rum bottle shoved in his mouth.

In the days to follow, investigators followed a trail of evidence to Darlene George’s brother, Jeffrey Williams, and her longtime lover, Rennie Cassimy. Marchese and Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said Darlene George was the mastermind behind a plan to kill Winston George in a staged home invasion.

Cell phone records showed calls between Darlene George, Cassimy and Williams intensified in the weeks leading up to the murder. There were 725 calls between Darlene George and Cassimy in May and June 2008.

Cassimy, who testified as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, said he, Darlene George and Williams plotted the murder during a meeting in front of the Brooklyn apartment where he lived. Cassimy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.

Cassimy said his role in the murder was simply to be present in case Williams needed assistance. He said Williams attacked Winston George after he came home from work, cutting his face with a knife and looping rope around him before dragging him to the basement.

“My specific role was just to be there because she had nobody else to trust to go there,” Cassimy testified.

Cassimy was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison with all but eight suspended, followed by four years in prison. He faces the possibility  of being deported to his native Trinidad following his prison sentence.

Williams took the stand in his own defense to refute Cassimy’s account of what happened on June 19 and June 20, 2008. He said he traveled by bus to Maine with Cassimy to visit his sister, not to commit murder. Surveillance video shows the two men arriving by bus and leaving the following day.

During closing statements, Marchese said journals written by Darlene George showed her marriage was unraveling as she continued an affair of more than a dozen years with Cassimy and Winston George developed a romantic relationship with a coworker. She said Winston George was “a hardworking man who fell out of love with his wife.”

Marchese said Darlene George was the mastermind and Williams the enforcer behind an elaborate plan to kill Winston George during a staged home invasion. Darlene George did not anticipate her son would try to fight back, want to help his “Pop” as Winston George begged to see his family and try to untie himself to call for help, she said.

Outside the courthouse, Winston George’s family stood with their arms wrapped around each other as they described their brother and uncle.

Whitfield George said said he will tell his 90-year-old mother the journey for justice for her youngest son is over.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.