HIGH POINT — Defendant Michael Cadogan leaned forward and moved his head in relief when jurors, after eight hours of deliberations, found him guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday afternoon in the 2021 strangulation death of High Point University student Gianna Delgado. Prosecutors and Delgado’s family had hoped the jury would find Cadogan guilty of first-degree murder, which carried a much stiffer punishment of life in prison without parole.
Instead, the 27-year-old Cadogan will serve between 240 to 300 months in prison — a sentence handed down by Guilford County Superior Court Judge Tonia Cutchen.
As the verdicts were read, Delgado’s father, Ricardo Delgado of Wilmington, and other members of the victim’s family wept. Cadogan’s family on the opposite side of the courtroom shared tissues, several holding their heads in their hands and crying.
Before sentencing, defense attorney Aaron Wellman described Cadogan as a contrite man who has struggled with his crime.
“He has consistently expressed remorse,’’ Wellman said. And Cadogan had an “extreme degree of shame — more than any other client I’ve ever dealt with.’’
Delgado’s father, barely able to speak, told the judge of his valedictorian daughter, 19, who studied criminal justice and pre-law at High Point University: “I don’t have her anymore.’’
Jurors heard five days of graphic testimony by witnesses for the prosecution last week — including a videotaped recording of Cadogan admitting to a Tennessee woman that he killed Delgado and needed help disposing the body.
Jurors had asked Cutchen to allow them to review audio of Cadogan’s phone call to Adrianna Thompson of Kingsport, Tenn. — a woman he took into his confidence about how he loaded Delgado’s body into a 40-gallon plastic container, disposed of her phone and planned to submerge her sedan and corpse in a Tennessee lake.
“I brought a change of clothes, so I’m dumping all these clothes,’’ he said on the taped call.
The prosecution, led by Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Cyrus Brown, contended that Cadogan killed Delgado at her north High Point apartment after she enraged him by announcing she wanted to end their relationship.
After Cadogan told Thompson about the slaying, she contacted police. One of the conversations jurors reviewed was a videotape of Thompson with police as they listened and recorded Cadogan without his knowledge on June 21, 2021. He was ultimately apprehended that day in Tennessee by Carter County deputies while driving Delgado’s car with the slain woman’s body inside.
Last week, the trial’s first week, prosecutors showed jurors a black and red 40-gallon plastic container they say Cadogan used to transport Delgado. They also called a police detective who testified that he saw “overwhelming” amounts of blood residue at the north High Point apartment believed to be where Cadogan killed Delgado.
On Tuesday, the prosecution and defense presented closing arguments to the jury.
Cadogan, looking weary in a black shirt and gray slacks, held his head down and wiped his eyes steadily as prosecutors insisted to jurors that Delgado’s killing was premeditated — the burden of proof for first-degree murder.
“He kept strangling her because he knew she was going to call the cops,’’ Brown told jurors, detailing the argument Cadogan and Delgado had at the apartment they sometimes shared.
Cadogan could have released his grip on Delgado and faced only an assault charge, Brown suggested.
But “rather than let go, he decided to punch her twice in the head and continue with the strangulation,’’ said Brown, citing the autopsy report. “He decided to kill her.’’
Premeditation “happens in a moment. Premeditation can be formed in an instant,’’ continued Brown, explaining Cadogan used “gross excessive force’’ when he struck Delgado, rupturing the globe of her right eye.
Wellman, the defense attorney, told jurors his client did not plan to kill Delgado.
“Mr. Cadogan committed a crime of passion,’’ said Wellman, arguing Cadogan should be found guilty instead of second-degree murder, a lesser charge.
“He exploded into a jealous rage and tried to cover his tracks,’’ Wellman said. “He did not commit first-degree murder. It is a crime of passion and it does not have premeditation and deliberation.’’
Cadogan was “wholly unprepared to do anything’’ after the murder, Wellman said. “He had no plan.’’