Updated

A former nuclear engineer has been convicted of murder for poisoning his wife with nicotine in Southern California in 1994.

City News Service reported Tuesday that jurors in Orange County Superior Court found 57-year-old Paul Curry guilty of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Curry killed his 50-year-old wife, Linda, to collect more than half a million dollars in life insurance and benefits after she died. Prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh said during the trial that Curry sedated his wife before injecting her with nicotine to kill her.

Curry's lawyer, Lisa Kopelman, has said Curry's wife suffered from a series of health issues.

Curry was arrested in 2010 in Salina, Kansas, where he had rebuilt his life and worked as a building official.