FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Fairfax County's prosecutor is promising to retry Megan Hargan in the deaths of her mother and sister inside a McLean home, after a judge overturned her conviction, citing juror misconduct.
On Wednesday, Fairfax County Judge Brett Kassabian vacated Hargan's first-degree double murder conviction in the July 14, 2017 shooting deaths of her mother, Pamela Hargan, 63, and her sister, Helen Hargan, 23. Hargan's public defender, Bryan Kennedy, had argued that Helen killed her mother with a rifle, and then used the same long gun to shoot herself in the head, as police originally believed.
One of the jurors, Tasha Nix, allegedly tried to re-enact the killings at home, and then told fellow jurors during deliberations the defense's theory of the case was impossible.
According to the defense motion that led the judge to vacate Hargan's conviction: "Ms. Nix went home and used her own rifle to see if that was possible. She tried to hold the rifle and maneuver it with one hand. She tried to see if it was possible to hold the rifle without leaving fingerprints. She tried to see if [it] was possible to shoot herself at the angle that the medical examiner explained to the jury. Based on these experiments at home, Ms. Nix concluded that she was unable to figure out a way that Helen Hargan could have committed suicide, due to the weight of the rifle itself and her inability to maneuver it in such a way to match the angles described by the Medical Examiner."
The medical examiner testified that Helen Hargan was shot in the top of the head and the bullet traveled down into her neck. Fairfax County Police officers found her dead in the bathroom with the rifle between her legs.
Detectives eventually concluded that Megan Hargan killed her mother out of jealousy because she was buying a home for Helen, but refused to transfer $400,000 to Megan's account so she could buy a home too.
Jurors are required to decide cases based on evidence they see and hear within the four corners of the courtroom. Legal experts say they're not allowed to conduct independent research and experiments at home.
WUSA9 has been unable to reach Nix for her reaction to the judge's decision to vacate the guilty verdict reached unanimously by jurors on March 28, 2022.
“We are disappointed that a juror’s inappropriate actions led to this double murder conviction being vacated," Fairfax Co. Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said. "We are still committed to getting justice for the victims of this crime. My office will move forward and prepare for the new trial.”