Criminal Justice

Widow Charged in '92 Murder of Tenn. Prosecutor

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When Ed Dossett died in 1992, only 44 years old and suffering from cancer, authorities said cattle had trampled the Knox County, Tenn., district attorney in an agricultural accident at his farm.

But today his widow, Raynella Dossett Leath, 59, was charged with first-degree murder in his death, which is now attributed to an overdose of the morphine he was taking for pain, reports the Scripps Howard News Service.

She has also been charged with killing her next husband, Dossett’s lifelong friend David Leath, who was shot to death in 2003. As a result of that first-degree murder case, which is scheduled to be tried in September, authorities took another look at Dossett’s death.

Leath’s lawyer, James Bell, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the new charge.

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