Man to be tried in wives' deaths

[livetohike]

These cases where two deaths, so many years apart interest me. It will be interesting to see how the authorities can prove the 1973 case.



One was shot last year; the other was killed in '73
By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 10, 2005

EL CAJON – A 58-year-old Santee man will stand trial on charges that he fatally shot two of his wives – one in October and one in 1973.

Superior Court Judge Patricia K. Cookson yesterday ordered William Peter New held in jail without bail. The judge scheduled New's next court appearance for July 7.

<snip>

"Second-guessing is as bad for the criminal justice system as it is for football games," Gibson said. "I have a real problem with having a case that was investigated 31 years ago and found to be an accident and then reinvestigated 30-plus years later when everything is destroyed and it's found to be a murder."

<snip>





http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050610-9999-2m10new.html

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

1. Wasn't there another case years ago

where the wife killed both her husbands & claimed pretty much the same scenario, accidental shootings? I'm sure I remember reading one, but I've read so many true crime & senior moments are hitting me hard.

This one looks like it will be tough for the prosecutors to prove the first one was murder. Gibson said it's difficult for New to disprove the charges against him in the 1973 case because the coroner who declared the shooting an accident is dead, the man who performed the autopsy on Somsri New is dead, the house the News lived in has been heavily damaged by fire, and "all the evidence has been lost but for 25 pictures and a small piece of bullet." I don't know how with so much evidence gone anything could be resolved. That said, it's pretty damned suspicious. If nothing else, the guy should be barred from ever getting within a city block of a gun.

best

[livetohike]

2. That case sounds familiar

but me too with the senior moments :-). Wasn't it in North Carolina? I think the wife killed the husband while he was asleep in their bed.She claimed the gun was kept under the pillow. I read the book and saw a reenactment on TV. Oh well, whatever it was, she was convicted of both murders.

[XanaDUer]

3. Is that the woman who claimed

(and she was acquitted) that her soon-to-be-ex husband was coming over and she accidentally shot him in the basement because she thought he was an intruder?

And it turns out she accidentally shot her first husband?