A state appeals court on Monday affirmed the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence imposed on a former Bedford County woman who shot and killed her 74-year-old husband during a domestic squabble that occurred on Sept. 11, 2018.

Nancy Lee Focht and her husband, David G. Focht Sr., were sitting together in what the Superior Court panel reviewing the case described as a backyard shed.

They were drinking coffee while discussing a portion of their yard where the grass needed to be cut and the cost of David’s ongoing medical problems.

David had recently had open heart surgery and needed further surgery on a leg.

According to the scenario of events that occurred, as outlined in the Superior Court opinion, David Focht was “displaying confusion regarding the fact that insurance would cover the vast majority of the bills.”

He feared they were “going to lose everything” and that he intended to cancel his upcoming surgery.

An argument ensued and as it progressed in intensity, he took off his wedding ring and allegedly told his wife of 52 years that the next time she saw the ring, “You’ll be laying in your casket.”

Mrs. Focht became frightened, noting “to me that means he’s going to kill me.”

She left the shed and went into the home where she retrieved a .357 Magnum revolver.

Returning to the shed, she fired a shot that struck a tool box followed by a second shot that struck her husband in the right side of his chest and penetrated a lung.

She then placed the weapon on his leg.

After contacting one of their sons, Focht called 911, telling the dispatcher the victim had retrieved the gun and fired a shot at her.

Her husband, she explained, was shot in the ensuing struggle for the gun.

State troopers arrived but were unsuccessful in their attempts to save David’s life.

In her initial interview with investigators she repeated her story that he was the one who obtained the gun from the house, but police began to doubt her story when no gunshot residue was found on the victim’s hands or clothing.

In a second interview with police in January 2019, she admitted she retrieved the gun but, she reported, when her husband saw the gun he charged at her and, the Superior Court related “she fired because she feared he would overpower her and take the gun.”

In her testimony during her trial, she said she shot the gun because she felt threatened because of remarks he made after taking off his ring.

She contended, however, during her trial she fired a first shot as a warning. The second fatal shot was accidental, she claimed.

The jury found Nancy Focht guilty of first degree murder and tampering with the evidence.

Bedford County Judge Travis W. LIvengood sentenced Focht to life in prison and a one- to two-year concurrent sentence on the tampering charge.

Bellefonte attorney Justin P. MIller filed an appeal with the Superior Court on two issues: that the judge had given the jury an incorrect instruction concerning the self-defense claim argued by Focht’s trial attorney, and the judge’s admission into the evidence of photographs of the victim.

The defense argued the photographs “were likely to inflame the hearts and minds of the jury,” thus outweighing any probative value.

In their Monday opinion, Superior Court Judges Mary P. Murray, Megan King and Timika Lane rejected both arguments.

The defense contended that Focht’s use of deadly force in the case was protected by the Castle Doctrine, in which a person, in their own home, is not required to retreat from the dwelling when facing danger — in this case David Foch, upon seeing the gun, allegedly rushing toward his wife.

The controversial instruction given to the jury by Livengood however, cited an exception to the Castle Doctrine, which noted that the “initial aggressor” is not protected.

Nancy Focht, it was alleged by the prosecution, was the initial aggressor in the case, not her husband.

The judge instructed the jury that the defense of justification may be disproven if the jury found Focht had a duty to retreat prior to using deadly force.

The Superior Court panel upheld Livengood’s instruction.

In addition, the panel ruled that the Castle Doctrine applies to persons dwelling in their own homes.

It concluded that the shed where the shooting took place was not a “dwelling.”

“Therefore, the court’s instruction to the jury regarding the duty to retreat was an accurate description of the applicable law given the facts and testimony of this specific case,” Livengood ruled.

“We agree with the trial court’s analysis,” the panel stated.

The panel also upheld the decision by the trial court to allow the jury to view photographs of the victim’s body, upholding the prosecution’s argument that the photos were not inflammatory and were necessary to show the location of the fatal wound.

The Superior Court opinion concluded, “Judgment of sentence affirmed.”

Focht, 77, remains incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution Muncy, Lycoming County.