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The conviction of Raynella Dossett Leath for the 2003 shooting death of her husband will stand, a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled...
In a second trial, she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with a chance for parole...
Dossett Leath was the widow of Knox County Attorney General Ed Dossett, who was terminally ill with cancer when he was reportedly trampled to death by cattle he was feeding at his farm in July 1992. She had also been charged with murder in his death, but was never tried. Prosecutors dropped that charge immediately after she was convicted in the death of her second husband.
One jury could not agree. A second was tainted by a judge who was high on drugs. On Monday, the process will begin to choose a third Knox County jury to decide if Raynella Dossett Leath is a killer or a woman who has suffered much through no fault of her own.
Although there will be no mention of it in this trial, Leath also is suspected of giving her first husband, Knox County District Attorney General Ed Dossett, a fatal overdose and staging his death to look like an accidental cattle trampling in 1992.
The pair of latex gloves found at the scene of David Leath's death caused a lot of trouble in court Friday. The gloves were found and packaged for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to test for DNA and gunshot residue.
Those in the courtroom Friday learned that a third glove was also found in the evidence package. The defense argued that the extra glove could contaminate any findings on the original pair, and that a mistake like this proves the evidence was logged improperly, which could bring doubt against any findings.
Judge Summers said he studied every piece of evidence and told the court there is not enough evidence. Summers excused the jury Wednesday.
The judge said, "Raynella is acquitted therefore she is not guilty."