A Lackawanna County jury found Maxwell Hawkins guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Nicole Vega.

The whole trial came down to one question: was Hawkins too drunk to form the intent to kill? The defense wanted third-degree murder. Prosecutors answered with video of him walking to a convenience store, apparently steady, and a phone call to his uncle claiming Vega was suicidal. The jury took about three hours to side with the prosecution.

A Lackawanna County jury found Maxwell Hawkins, 39, guilty of first-degree murder and related counts late Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in the shooting death of Nicole Vega in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, The Times-Tribune, WNEP and FOX56 reported. The trial began Wednesday, and jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning the verdict, The Times-Tribune reported. FOX56 and WNEP described Vega as Hawkins' wife; The Times-Tribune described her as his estranged girlfriend.

Police said Hawkins shot Vega in the head on Jan. 2, 2025, at the home they shared on Veterans Drive in Dunmore, after days of arguments over a new person in her life, according to The Times-Tribune. Prosecutors said Hawkins then left the house, walked to a Turkey Hill convenience store to buy cigarettes, and called his uncle to say he believed Vega might harm herself. Police said the couple's three children were alone in the home with their mother during that time.

Defense attorney Bernie Brown told jurors Hawkins was so intoxicated that night that he was not arraigned until the next day and was not formally interviewed by detectives for a week, The Times-Tribune reported. Brown asked the jury to consider third-degree murder instead. Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela countered that Hawkins, angry about Vega's relationship with another man, shot her and then spent nearly an hour building an alibi to make the death look like a suicide. She showed jurors video of Hawkins walking to the store, apparently unimpaired, and argued he placed the gun on the floor to fit that story. Dunmore Detective Eugene Mentz testified that Hawkins appeared intoxicated and that a preliminary breath test result was not recorded in the file.

District Attorney Brian Gallagher thanked the prosecution team and Dunmore and Pennsylvania State Police investigators, said Vega's daughters "will never see their mother again," and said Hawkins "will rightfully spend the rest of his life in prison," FOX56 reported. WNEP reported that Hawkins faces a life sentence. A sentencing date has not been announced. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.