A Virginia woman who shot her mother and sister dead then staged the scene as a murder-suicide was served two life sentences following her second conviction for the 2017 killings. 

Megan Hargan was once again handed two life sentences, the Fairfax County commonwealth attorney announced, and an additional six years for gun charges on Jan. 26.

The 41-year-old was granted a new trial after she was initially sentenced to life in prison in March 2022 on two counts of murder in the deaths of Helen Hargan, 23, and Pamela Hargan, 63, at the Washington, D.C., home they all shared.

After shooting her mother and sister on July 14, 2017, Hargan staged the scene as a murder-suicide, trying to make it appear as though her sister had killed her mother and turned the gun on herself, in order to steal money to pay for her new home in West Virginia.

The juror told a defense team investigator that she tested on an unloaded rifle whether it was possible to shoot oneself with a .22 using your toe to pull the trigger, as Megan’s defense team suggested Helen had done. 

The juror determined it was impossible and shared that realization with the rest of the jury, which voted unanimously to convict Hargan in September 2022, according to NBC Washington.

“Clearly, a juror may not properly receive any information about a case he is hearing except in open court and in the manner provided by law,” Senior Assistant Public Defender Bryan T. Kennedy wrote of the decision to grant a retrial, Law & Crime reported.

The .22 rifle Hargan used belonged to her husband, according to WJAR, and was being temporarily stored in the residence.

But prosecutors immediately said they wanted to retry Hargan, leading to her latest sentence. 

“Megan Hargan’s actions in July 2017 go beyond what most of us can imagine,” the Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano wrote in a statement. “On a quiet morning in her mother’s home, she made an irreversible decision – one that would devastate her family and tear the community apart. First-degree murder is the most serious offense you can be convicted of in Virginia, and [Friday’s] sentence reflects the gravity of the defendant’s crimes.”