RALEIGH, N.C. – Minutes after Nation Hahn delivered a dramatic eulogy for his murdered wife, Jonathan Broyhill was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Jamie Hahn.
Broyhill stabbed Hahn in April 2013 and she died days later. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder after a short deliberation on Wednesday.
On Thursday, her husband, Nation, took the stand and spoke fondly of the woman he loved.
He said he carries her wedding band in a necklace and it includes her words, “I love you to the moon.”
He called her “the most wonderful person I have ever known.”
Hahn said he thought she would survive the brutal attack, saying, “She was so strong. She was a fighter.”
He looked directly at Broyhill across the courtroom and said, “She tried to give that same strength, that same compassion, to Jon Broyhill because she loved him, too.”
Hahn paused, collected himself, and then looked out at the courtroom again.
“I hope that everyone will do what I try to do every day and that is to take some of her with us, some of her essential goodness. And all of us who knew Jamie know that spirit will carry forward with all of us.
“Jon, you killed her. You tried to kill me. But you can’t kill her spirit. You can’t kill what it was that made her so special.”
Hahn took a long pause, looked at Broyhill again and said, “You can’t cut her spirit out with that knife. And you couldn’t stop her love for you even if you tried.”
Hahn stopped, said, “Thank you,” and exited the witness stand.
