William Jeffrey West, 47, was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his ‘camgirl’ wife Kat West in 2018 in Alabama

On January 13, 2018, Kat, 42, was found partially nude by a passing motorist around 5am outside the couple’s Calera home

Jeffrey was accused of using a bottle of Lucid Absinthe to kill her by hitting her in the head

His defense attorney argued Kat was drunk and fell and hit her head that night after he went to bed

Kat’s family along with Jeffrey’s family believe he is innocent and sat together in a united front as Kat’s mother testified in his defense

The jury still convicted him on Friday and he faces 2-20 years in jail

An Alabama man has been convicted of ‘reckless manslaughter’ after his fingerprints were found on the glass bottle used to beat his wife of 14 years to death.  
Army veteran and former police officer William Jeffrey West, 47, of Calera was accused of killing Kathleen ‘Kat’ Dawn West, 42, by beating her with the Lucid Absinthe bottle on January 13, 2018.  
He then staged the scene to appear like she fell and cracked her head on the driveway, the prosecution told the court.
Kat West was found wearing only a sports bra in the driveway of the couple’s home by a passing motorist around 5am. Her daughter and husband were inside the home at the time.
West was found guilty of manslaughter on Friday despite Kat’s own family maintaining his innocence and her mother testifying in his defense at trial.   

Kat, who bore a resemblance to Marilyn Monroe, was a stay-at-home mom who lived a double live as a ‘camgirl’. 
She had a subscription-only website where she went by the name of Kitty Kat West and posted risqué-photos of herself. 
She also publicly posted lingerie photos online while charging viewers to see sexier images. 
West’s trial began on Tuesday with prosecutors arguing he had killed his wife during a fight following a ‘date night’ that included him taking racy photos of her. 
They said that she died from a blow to the head and that both her blood and her husband’s fingerprints were on the bottle. 

West told investigators that Kat had been drunk and died accidentally after she fell and hit her head. 
The victim’s mother, Nancy Martin, backed him up, describing her daughter outside court as an alcoholic who took medication for bipolar disorder and had a history of binge drinking. 
Despite the testimony from her family, West was found guilty at around 10pm Friday after the jury deliberated for five hours, according to Alabama.com.   
He had originally been charged with murder but prosecutors still welcomed the manslaughter conviction. 
‘While we continue to believe this was an intentional murder, we are pleased he is being brought to justice,’ said Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Daniel McBrayer. 

West was said to be ‘stunned’ by the outcome and remained silent as he was found guilty.
‘We maintained that he was innocent, that the evidence supported a not guilty verdict, so we’re disappointed but we have to respect the juries’ decision at this point,’ said his attorney John Robbins. 
‘Jeff is stunned,’ Robbins added. ‘He has maintained he did not kill his wife since Day 1 and that’s still his position. It’s never going to change and all he can do is keep fighting this.’  
During the four-day trial, the jury heard how the couple returned home from dinner on the January night in 2018, stopping off at a liquor store where they bought Jameson whiskey and the bottle of Absinthe.
They both drank a lot before they began the photo shoot at around 9.30pm in which Kat posed in a pink bra, pink multi-colored panties and pink stiletto shoes. 

‘Yes, she had a website. She posed nude. She did that for her own self-esteem, Robbins said. ‘Jeff was fully aware of what his wife did, and he assisted her.’ 
Yet, prosecutors claimed that an argument then erupted as West was ‘fed up with this Instagram stuff’.  
‘He grabs her phone and chunks it out the front door where it lands in the street,’ the prosecution told the jury, tying into testimony previously heard that Kat’s phone was cracked at the time of her death.  
Kat West went outside to retrieve her phone. She was wearing only the pink bra – no pants or panties or shoes.
McBrayer said he believes Jeff West grabbed the liquor bottle, followed her outside and, holding the bottle in an inverted position, delivered the fatal blow to her head.
“This marriage was not in a good place,” McBrayer said as he delivered closing arguments. “This [was] a relationship on the rocks.”
During the third day of proceedings on Thursday, jurors listened to West’s 90-minute interview with police where he was asked about the events leading up to Kat’s death and the couple’s sex life.
An expert witness had testified on Thursday had that Jeffery West’s left thumb and ring finger prints were found on the Lucid absinthe bottle, the alleged murder weapon. The position suggested ‘he had held it by its throat.’ 

West told investigators his wife’s job as an exhibitionist did not bother him and that he and she ‘were in a good spot’, AL reported. 
He did however admit there had been some strain within their marriage because Kat had a higher sex drive than him and enjoyed having sex four to five times a week. 
‘I’m not as sexual as she is,’ he told police. ‘It is what it is. I’m happy with myself. She wasn’t happy with it.’ 
Despite their differences, West insisted he would never hurt his wife. 
‘We were totally in a good spot,’ he said. ‘I would not hurt my wife, not even accidentally. I would not hurt my wife.’ 

Jeffrey was charged with her death and accused of using a bottle of liquor to kill her by hitting her in the head.  His defense attorney argued that Kat was drunk and fell and hit her head that night after West went to sleep at One of the private aspects of their life that came out as investigators probed the couple’ relationship was that Kat was bisexual and had recently ‘wanted to look into that lifestyle’, even pointing out three women in their community she had eyes on. 
He also said the two talked openly about her camgirl job and there was ‘nothing to be jealous about.’  
‘It’s just pictures. She got money for it,’ he said, adding that she had ‘never stepped out on the marriage.’ 10.30pm

On the night of her death, West claimed he went to bed at 10.30pm and only discovered his wife had been killed the following morning.  
Prosecutors, however, presented the jury with evidence contradicting West’s claims. 
They revealed data taken from his iPhone Health app showed he had taken 18 steps between 11.03pm and 11.10pm – when he was apparently sleeping.   
Steven Payne, and Alabama Law Enforcement Agency print examiner, also told the jury West’s left thumb and ring finger prints were found on the absinthe bottle.
The prints suggested he had held the bottle by the ‘throat’ instead of the base, according to AL. 

During the prosecution’s opening statements in Shelby County Court Tuesday, Prosecutor Daniel McBrayer said there was evidence that the couple had prior arguments before her death.
He said evidence in the case will also show how many times West hit her with the bottle and that a medical examiner will testify that there was nothing else in the area where her body was found that could’ve been used to kill her.
‘It did not result from a fall,’ the prosecutor said. ‘When this person got hit, they were going down fast.’ 
Defense attorney John Charles Robbins earlier told jurors that the cause of Kat’s death was blunt force trauma based on an autopsy report, which did not rule out falling.   

Kat’s parents have publicly defended the man, whom they described during interviews as a devoted, loving husband and a good father to the couple’s teenage daughter. 
The Army veteran worked as a campus police officer at Birmingham-Southern College before his arrest. 
West stayed with his in-laws after the woman’s death and before his arrest.
He faces between two and 20 years in prison when he is sentenced and is being remanded in jail until the hearing in 60 days time after his $500,00 bond was revoked. 
The prosecution will be asking for a prison sentence at the hearing, McBrayer said.  
John Robbins however, intends to present a case at sentencing for his client should be sentenced to a probationary period – in keeping with the wishes of Kat’s family. “We will be asking the court to place him on probation. I think it’s appropriate.
‘The family, [Kat West’s parents] would want that. They’re in shock,’ Robbins said.