Vincent McGee, 37, was found guilty of first-degree murder yesterday in the Nov. 8 slaying of his wife in their State College home.

The State College man shot his wife in the head as she was packing to leave their home with the couple's two sons after a day of arguing over his drinking.

The defense, led by McGee's public defender Deborah Lux, did not argue that the shooting took place.

Rather, they argued McGee was too intoxicated to remember what he did and that the shooting occurred during an alcohol-induced blackout.

"He was so overpowered by the intoxication he could not control the capacity to plan to kill," Lux argued during her closing statement. "[He] intended to drink, not kill. Drink."

The defense also brought in psychologist Lawrence Clayton who testified that McGee was not only alcohol dependent on the day of the murder, but in an alcohol-induced blackout.

The defense claimed the shooting was an accident that occurred while McGee was shifting his gun from one side to the other of the waistband of his pants.

But the jury handed McGee the first-degree convictions.

"I'm very pleased," Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar said following the hearing. "It was a just verdict."

The prosecution's argument was that McGee's recollection of the incident was not a requirement needed for charges they were seeking.

"We don't have to show that he remembers committing the murders," Gricar said during his closing statement. "We just have to show he performed the act beyond a reasonable doubt."

The prosecution provided evidence that McGee would have been physically unable to shoot his wife from the armchair as the defense argued. Not only was his wife shot in the back of the head, but there was blood on the chair the defense claimed McGee was sitting in.

But the key to the conviction might have been the legal clause that says a deadly weapon used on a vital part of the body may be seen as intent to kill.

Gricar told the jury that because McGee, using a Smith & Wesson pistol, shot his wife in the head, he deserved the charge.

They also used the testimony of a ballistics expert to aid their case.

The specialist testified that the type of gun used in the shooting does not go off easily.

"It doesn't go off when you drop it or bump it. You have to pull the trigger," Gricar said. "That alone shows the specific intent to kill."

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated most of the afternoon yesterday, reaching a verdict around 4:30.