Former NFL linebacker Naposki gets life in prison for murder

Pool photo

Eric Naposki in court.

A former NFL linebacker was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole Friday for murdering his lover’s wealthy live-in boyfriend.

The murder happened nearly 20 years ago.

Eric Naposki’s NFL career consisted of only five games in the late ‘80s.

By 1994, he was working as bouncer at a nightclub. His girlfriend – Nanette Packard – was living with Newport Beach entrepreneur William McLaughlin.

Together, they conspired to kill the 55-year-old McLaughlin so they could collect on a million dollar insurance policy.

That was the theory prosecutors presented to a jury in Santa Ana last year to win a first-degree murder conviction against Naposki. Another jury convicted Packard in January.

Packard got life in prison without parole. A judge in Santa Ana has given Naposki the same sentence.