Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Beverly Jo Coon, former Baldwin-Whitehall school board memeber, is led to jail after a jury convicted her yesterday on charges of arson, attempted homicide and aggravated assault. Click photo for larger image. Listen In Listen as the PG's Dennis Roddy talks to Ronald Grimm, the man Beverly Coon is accused to trying to kill. The major question: if Grimm was trying to break off the relationship, why were they still seeing each other? To download the file to your computer, right click on the above link and select "Save Target As ..." After the file has finished downloading, double-click on the file to listen to the audio.

Her face wrenched in anguish, Beverly Jo Coon, handcuffed by the same deputies who once answered to her father-in-law, was led to jail yesterday after a once-divided jury convicted her of arson and attempted murder.

Ms. Coon, 47, the daughter-in-law of the late Sheriff Eugene L. Coon and a former member of the Baldwin-Whitehall school board, was convicted of drugging her boyfriend, former Bethel Park school Superintendent Ronald Grimm, 61, and setting his apartment on fire one year ago.

Jurors convicted her of arson, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, risking a catastrophe and criminal mischief in the Sept. 9, 2005, fire at the Monroe Village apartments in Monroeville.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning rejected a defense request to continue her $100,000 bail and ordered Ms. Coon jailed immediately.

She faces the potential of years in prison when sentenced Dec. 7 for her conviction on the criminal counts.

Jurors cleared her of a single charge: stalking Dr. Grimm.

Jurors began their deliberation evenly divided, according to one, James McCollum, a retired communications worker from Penn Hills.

"It turned out we were pretty much split when we went into the room and just did what we were supposed to do, and talked about all the areas of the evidence," he said.

"Basically the half that were in favor of acquittal really kind of slowly swung around."

Mr. McCollum said jurors were troubled at the quality of the investigation by the Allegheny County fire marshal's office, and the investigation overall.

Defense lawyers repeatedly criticized the investigation as a rush to judgment, saying Monroeville police and county detectives failed to retain any evidence from the burned apartment and did not interview other potential suspects after rapidly concluding that Ms. Coon, who was found outside the apartment among other spectators, played a role in the blaze.

"We were more hung up on the loose ends than what was presented," Mr. McCollum said.

With its accounts of extramarital sex, stalking and secrecy, the six-day trial encompassed a case more reminiscent of "Desperate Housewives" than "CSI Miami." The defense stridently attacked the Allegheny County detectives who investigated the fire at Dr. Grimm's apartment, complaining they sent nothing from the scene for laboratory analysis, saved no evidence from the fire, then rushed to judgment that it was caused by Ms. Coon rather than a battery from the victim's laptop computer.

While prosecutors openly acknowledged their case was circumstantial, they presented witnesses who said Ms. Coon behaved obsessively toward Dr. Grimm, pestered him with phone calls at work, staked out the home of his estranged wife when he visited her, and even arranged to meet Mrs. Grimm by using a fake name.

Ms. Coon took the stand in her own defense, and appears to have successfully refuted at least the stalking charge. She testified that she and Dr. Grimm had sex three days before the fire, and had gotten together each of the following two days for snacks and talk.

Dr. Grimm testified that Ms. Coon turned up at his apartment around 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, with a plate of pastries. She urged him to try the ladylocks in particular, he said. According to Dr. Grimm, he ate two and passed out immediately.

The county crime lab later found evidence of temazepam, a schedule IV narcotic, in his blood.

The case derailed the careers of both Ms. Coon and Dr. Grimm. She was soundly defeated for re-election to the Baldwin-Whitehall board, as was her running mate, Michael Stelmasczyk. Dr. Grimm resigned as Bethel Park superintendent days after the preliminary hearing at which he detailed his relationship with the accused. He has previously said he needed time to recover from his injuries and might return to some job in the educational field later.

The verdict stunned the defense team, which earlier in the day had received a promising signal: two alternate jurors, excused after it became clear that all 12 regular jurors would be able to deliberate, said they would have acquitted Ms. Coon.

"We really believed there was a reasonable doubt in this case. Obviously the jury didn't see it that way. So now we're just going to regroup and see if there are any appellate issues," said Robert Leight, one of Ms. Coon's two lawyers.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Former Bethel Park school Superintendent Ronald Grimm and his wife, Joyce, leave the Allegheny Courthouse yesterday after Mr. Grimm's former mistress, Beverly Coon, was convicted. Click photo for larger image.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Pratt, who oversaw the prosecution, said jurors "put two and two together" in the case.

While jurors were still deliberating, Dr. Grimm gave an interview in which he said he was still suffering psychologically from his experience, and attempting to sort out how he became involved with Ms. Coon. The pair met in 2003 at a Pennsylvania School Boards Association conference in Hershey.

He testified that in August of last year, he began attempts to break off the relationship with Ms. Coon, but the pair continued having sex as late as the Monday before the fire.

"There are some aspects of that I just can't explain to myself," he said. "I didn't want to have any more contact."

He said he is confident authorities convicted the right person.

"She lit the fire. She's the one that gave me the pastries that had the temazepam. I've no doubt about it whatsoever," he said.

Ms. Coon's husband, attorney Timothy Coon, from whom she separated 15 years ago, said he might comment later.

"I have something to say, but not today," he said. "I want to get my emotions together first."