48 Hours - The Black Widow

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Raynella and Ed Dossett were a power couple in Tennessee where Ed was the Knox County District Attorney General. But at the age of 43, Ed was diagnosed with terminal cancer and then died in a freak accident on the family farm. Six months later, Raynella married David Leath, the local barber and Ed's best friend. Then in 2003, David died from a gunshot to his head. Raynella alleged David died by suicide by prosecutors suspected she may have been responsible for his death. “48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 7/14/2018. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Music Call for eyes. Court's in session. Statements show that on March 13, 2003, David Lee was killed by a single gunshot wound to his forehead. Love County 911. Help me! Help me! My husband shot himself! The report on the 911 call was that he'd shot himself. Gentlemen's laying in a bed, guns laying beside him.

Look right here, here's another home. He's fired more than once. Look right above his head there. There's also a shot into the bed, which is a little suspicious in itself. There was more than one shot. And while that's not unheard of, well, it didn't look like a suicide scene. And the statements show that the person who delivered that fatal blow

was the defendant, Raynella Leath. He was shot almost in the middle of his forehead, but right above his left eye. There were no signs of forced entry, there were no signs of a struggle, and there was no one else at the residence but the defendant. Can you connect Raynella to that weapon? Fingerprints?

No. Anyone see her pick up the gun? No. To any of the bullets that were weapon? Fingerprints? No. Anyone see her pick up the gun? No. To any of the bullets that were used in that gun? No. That's a problem, isn't it, in this case? Everything good about this woman was twisted. Everything good about this woman was turned around to be evil. There's not any real evidence to suggest a homicide.

And if I were to pull the trigger in this direction, I could strike myself the left eyebrow. Am I right? Yes, you could. There was only one person who wanted to harm David, and at that point it was David. He was acting suicidal. And he makes his decision, and he takes aim. He's a great lawyer. He's super prepared. Fantastic lawyer. Fantastic. He's a bad actor.

I just tried to focus on the evidence and where that was leading me. It was hard for me to determine. You'll tell me if that's approximately one foot. Where we were going with certain things and trying to piece those things together. Inside each line is an individual stain. But you're not making a decision just by yourself. You're making a decision as a group. This is a decision never to be taken lightly, and I assure you that this court takes this responsibility very seriously.

As a senior judge, most every case that I try is somewhat controversial. Now, in this case, it's kind of simple. If it was a homicide, did the evidence show that Raynella Leath committed the homicide? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I really could not believe what he was saying as he said it. You're not quite sure if this is really where this is going.

I personally have studied every shred of evidence or testimony just like you have. Oh I gotta breathe. No matter where we think we're going here that can't be how this ends. 48 hours, The Widow on Solway Road. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Inside this courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee... Let the record reflect that all the jurors are in the box. And all parties are present. A real-life drama is taking place that rivals any Southern Gothic novel.

I'm Josh Hedrick. We haven't met before, have we? No, we haven't. That's a pleasure. This is not a story that would happen in a sleepy New England town. It's too Southern. He would bring her a rose once a week

and they would go out to dinner. There is the gentility. With your permission, I'll remove my coat because I had some difficulty with it previously. And underneath that very respectable surface, it seems like everything's rotting to the core. Unless you really know what's inside somebody's mind. If I were to then place it here, you don't really know why they do what they do, do you?

Best-selling author Diane Fanning has written about this case and the players. This is something that a fiction writer would write about. Give us your name please, ma'am. Raynella Leith. Raynella Leith, a 68-year-old grandmother, is at the center of this extraordinary tale. Have you decided whether or not you wish to testify in your trial? I do not wish to testify.

Very well. You've not wish to testify. Very well. You've got an unbelievable character. There were people she knew in college who said, well, she was great. She was a lot of fun, as long as she didn't cross her. And ever since 2003, the former nurse has been the prime suspect in the death of her second husband, David

Leath. Help me! Help me! My husband shot himself! It was Raynella's 911 call on the morning of March 13, 2003, that sent police rushing to the Leath home. This is Detective Moyers for the Sheriff's Department. We're out on a possible suicide, gunshot wound.

These are audio and video recordings made by police at the scene. No signs of no good thing lying around anywhere. Listen to investigators as they begin wondering about that death called in as a suicide. The gun's laying next to his left hand, which is curled underneath thing. We got three fired rounds. What I have a problem with is where the rounds at and the way he's laying. I'm not saying it stinks, I'm just saying it strikes. Detectives wanted to establish where Rainella had been all morning, and she agreed to talk

the only time she's spoken on the record. She remembers watching television with her husband David that morning before leaving his breakfast on the nightstand. He kissed me goodbye, and he said, if I'm not here when you get back, I'll be at the Y. And I said, okay. It was close to 9.30, she says, when she headed to the hospital to visit her mother-in-law. Just call 4th floor. They can tell you maybe my care.

When she arrived home shortly after 11, she found her husband laying in a bloody bed with a gunshot to his head. I just feel something's wrong when I looked at him. I mean, I've worked in an emergency room before. I know. Where'd he keep his gun at? I don't know where that gun is from. I've never seen that gun in my whole life.

The gun was believed to have belonged to David's parents. David's sudden death left Rainella a grieving widow for the second time. Her first husband, Ed Dossett, had died 11 years earlier. Rainella and Ed met at East Tennessee State University, where she was on the rifle team and studying to be a nurse. He planned to go to law school. What drew those two together? Rainella was such a confident woman.

She had presence. And I think that Ed was really drawn to that. They married and moved to Ed's 165-acre family farm in the tight-knit community of Solway, just outside Knoxville, where they raised cattle and three children, Maggie, Eddie Jr., and Katie. Raynella was extremely protective of her children. They became the power couple in town

when Ed was elected Knox County District Attorney General. Raynella was director of nursing at Park West Hospital. But their lives took a tragic turn when at the age of 43, Ed was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Nine months later, he died, not from his illness, but in a freak farming accident. But Rainella wasn't a widow for long. Six months later, she shot friends and family

when she remarried. David Leath was a local barber and Ed Dawson's best friend and neighbor. She'd fix his food and start his car in the morning, and she just treated him like a king. David's daughter, Cindy Wilkerson, and his cousin, Beth Roberts, say the whirlwind romance was all the talk in Solway.

What do you think he saw in Rainella? She's charming. I said to my mother I thought he had hit the jackpot with this girl because she was so pretty and so interesting. I just thought this is going to be a great fit. But Raynella's newfound happiness was short-lived. Less than two years after she remarried, her 11-year-old son was killed in a car crash. She was very sad and very, very heartbroken.

Cindy says she began seeing changes in Rinella and her father's relationship. They didn't seem as happy as they were when they first got married. Five years later, more heartbreak. David was hospitalized. He began seeing a neurologist for signs of dementia and depression.

In early 2003, Reynella says David's behavior became more erratic, concerned. She began making notes in a private journal. On January 19th, she wrote, Dave hateful today, I cried and cried. Three days later, things hadn't improved. Dave hateful, controlling, his way or no way. I cried. Seven weeks after writing those words, David was dead.

What did you think had happened to your dad? Somebody had shot him, but I knew that he didn't do it. Somebody had shot him, but I knew that he didn't do it. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either, until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years.

I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness, and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America.

But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last fall, that was no protection. Claudine Gay is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. You miss your dad? Every day. Every haircut, every styling in the middle chair at this Knoxville barbershop reminds

Cindy Wilkerson of her father, David Leath. It's the same chair he used for 39 years. My dad was fun, loving, caring, and it's a joy to use the same chair he did. Cindy inherited the chair in 2000 when her father suddenly retired at the age of 54. What he kept secret were all those visits to the neurologist. If he was suicidal over dementia, Cindy never saw it. When Raynela said, your dad committed suicide, did you initially think, well, maybe he did,

but it's just hard to believe? No, I never did think that my dad was scared to death of guns, and I knew that he couldn't have done that. And Cindy questioned why her right-handed father would have used his left hand to shoot himself above his left eye. He was totally blind out of that eye. As her doubts soared, so did her suspicions about her stepmother's role. And she wasn't alone. Within 24 hours, Dr. Dariinka Mlucznik,

the Knox County medical examiner, discounted Raynella's claim of suicide and ruled David Lee's death a homicide. Raynella became the focus of attention. It was clear to David's family what should happen next. Investigation, indictment, trial. But it doesn't. No, not even close. Remember, Raynella was the widow of a district attorney

general. Crime writer and 48 hours consultant Diane Fanning says that was the problem. Almost everybody working in that office either worked with Ed, knew Ed, or knew Rainella. There was a conflict of interest. Finding an outside prosecutor to take the Leith case dragged on. Making things more difficult, no one could figure out the motive.

Murder doesn't always make sense. Cindy was becoming more and more frustrated. She wanted something to be done about her father's murder. With the criminal case stalled, in March 2006, more and more frustrated. She wanted something to be done about her father's murder. With the criminal case stalled, in March 2006, Cindy filed a civil suit against Rainella to stop her from inheriting David's estate. Prosecutors took notice. Three and a half years after David Lee's death, Rainella was charged with his murder. And that's when old suspicions surfaced about the death of her first husband. Ed Dossett had been found in a field in July 1992, surrounded by his cattle.

He had apparently been trampled to death. Did anyone wonder about how Ed Dossett died? Yes. The reports were an agricultural accident, but some folks in the community had a problem with that scenario. Ed grew up on a farm. For him to have been trampled by his own cattle, that just didn't make sense. What's more, folks wondered how Ed, weak with cancer and heavily medicated, even managed

to get all the way from his house to the cattle. He died in a way that almost sounded like something you'd hear on a soap opera. Diane Fanning says there had been a theory going around Solway that Dossett's death was actually about insurance. Rainella and the kids would get a bigger payout if it was an accident instead of cancer. It might have even been Ed Dossett's idea himself, couldn't it have been? It could have been Ed Dossett's idea himself, couldn't it have been? It could have been Ed Dossett's idea, and that's what stopped some of the other people

from wanting to pursue it. Because if Ed knew he was about to die, but he wanted his family to be more secure financially, he might have said, take me out there. Let the cows tromp on me. Nearly a year after Raynella was charged with David Leese murder, the same medical examiner who ruled that death a homicide reviewed a Dossett's file. Dr. Mlucinic determined it wasn't cattle that killed him. It was a morphine overdose. It was a huge story.

The widow of a district attorney general was now charged with murdering two husbands. Raynella was now being described as a black widow. Even though she had never gone to trial on any death. No, it was just suspicions were gathering around her. Which is why Diane Fanning called her book her deadly web. Is it possible that Rainelle Lilith is just a very unlucky woman? Yeah, but coincidence makes me itchy. Prosecutors decided to try her for David Lee's murder first.

In 2009, six years after his death, Rainella finally went on trial. But it turns out that was only the beginning. The jury deadlocked. 11 to 1. 11 to 1 to convict. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial. It was here in Knox County, so it wasn't shocking to me. A year later, Rainella was back in court for trial number 2.

The case was the same, but this time jurors were unanimous. Raynella was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. I felt like justice had been served, and I was happy. So were prosecutors. With Raynella behind bars, they dropped the murder charges for the death of her first husband, Ed Dossett, never expecting what came next. I would describe her as lucky. Very lucky. After she served six years, Reynella's conviction was tossed out. The reason? The trial judge had been seriously impaired with a drug addiction and was kicked off the bench.

What was your reaction when you heard the verdict had been overturned? I was devastated. Couldn't believe it. 14 years after the death of David Lee... Call the jury in, please. It's now trial number three, and prosecutor Steve Crump's turn to try Raynella Leath.

Is there a way to describe this case? Snake bit. Because what can't go wrong will go wrong. It's May 2017. Everyone is ready. The trial, one of the last of senior judge Paul Summer's career, is set to begin. First to present, District Attorney General Steve Crump, in what all sides hope will be the last trial in this case. The person who delivered that fatal blow was the defendant, Raynella Leith. He argues Raynella's murderous plan

unraveled the moment she fired that first shot and missed. Once she missed, it changed the whole dynamic. She ended his life with that second shot, and then in an attempt to cover up, she fired that third shot to get gunshot residue on him. You're describing a pretty cold-blooded killer. Yes. That's what I think she is. We'll show you what's been marked previously as Exhibit 36

and ask if you can identify that. For the prosecution, the gun, a Colt 38 police special revolver, reveals some of the most important clues. May I step down? Don Carman is a former Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent. Like I said, it's a very old, simple farm, however, very effective.

This picture of the cylinder was taken at the scene. The three fired rounds have small indentations, or hammer strikes, in the center of the casing. The unfired rounds do not. For each particular shot, it goes to the next chamber. As you look at it right now, it's going clockwise. Yes, Your Honor. Prosecutors say that clockwise rotation of the cylinder

tells the order of the shots. The first cartridge fired would be this one. The second would be this one. And the third would be this one. The first two cartridges are from silver Remington bullets. Fragments of those were found in the wall and David Leath's head. But the third is different. It's a gold Winchester found shot through the mattress. If that gold bullet was fired last, as the prosecution believes,

that means it came after David Leath was already shot in the head, severing his brain stem. Knox County Medical Examiner Dr. Daringa Mluznik. Was David Leath in any way capable of any sort of voluntary movement after that bullet transected his brain? None whatsoever. Next, prosecutors turned to the blood spatter. These round drops of blood on the wall tell investigators that David's head Ranelle Aletha is standing at the side of the bed and she misses with that first shot,

and we know that the first shot was the one that went into the headboard, he raises up, the second shot occurs, and he falls straight back down to where he was found. You cannot lay in this bed and face that direction and get that blood spatter on the wall. Blood doesn't turn corners. But the defense insists that the same evidence points to David Leath as the shooter. Multiple shot suicides are not impossible.

They have. Raynola's team consists of Knoxville criminal attorney Josh Hedrick, along with Rebecca LaGrand, a Washington, D.C. based lawyer with a background in science. She was taking care of a sick husband who she loved. And for that to get twisted into what it did is upsetting. She's got hope that the justice system isn't so broken that it won't eventually realize the truth, which is that she's an innocent woman. With no clear motive presented by the state, the defense starts with those three shots. Each and every one of these shots could have been accomplished by David Leath himself.

And then raises doubts to Don Carmen about the order of those three shots. You don't know for certain whether the gun was opened or the cartridge was manipulated prior to that photo being taken. I do not. And as a result, you're unable to say with any degree of scientific certainty what order the shots were fired in. That's correct because in my discipline they would be not testable. But even if the prosecution's order of shots is correct. Kentucky State Medical Examiner and defense consultant,

Dr. Greg Davis says, David Leath still could have been the shooter. I'll give it to you. It's unusual. But to say because of that, it has to be a homicide, I just can't go that far. There is a phenomenon called catapharic spasm where a person can actually, their hands can

squeeze immediately upon death. What would you have ruled this? I would have ruled this undetermined. Which is what he believes Dr. Mlucinich should have done in this case. Remember, within 24 hours of David Leath's death, Dr. Mlucinic called it a homicide. She had not yet seen records from his neurologist or received a complete medical history. Didn't have toxicology, didn't have ballistics, didn't have medical records. It went from can we figure out what happened to can we prove this was a homicide? In a previous trial, Dr. Mlucinic testified that medications found in David's system

would have rendered him, and I quote, incapacitated. In other words, he would have been unable to kill himself. But in trial number three, Dr. Mlucinic did not repeat that claim. I'm glad that she reassessed and didn't try to make the same claims about toxicology at the third trial, but it's six years too late for my client. Dr. Mlucinek declined 48-hour's request for an interview, but in Rinella's third trial, she stands firm that David Lee's death was a homicide.

I was very confident and 14 years later, I'm even more so confident, yes. Dr. Davis, can you say unequivocally that she didn't kill her husband? No, I cannot. But there's not enough evidence to say she did. Right. As a forensic pathologist, at least on the evidence that I've been privy to, there's no way on earth I think she's guilty.

But there is information Dr. Davis was not privy to. If anybody has any doubts as to whether David was murdered by Ronella, maybe they need to talk to Steve Walker. I see a killer because she tried to kill me. UFO lands in Suffolk and that's official, said the News of the World. But what really happened across two nights in December 1980, when US servicemen saw mysterious lights in the forest near RAF Woodbridge and

claimed to have had a close encounter with an actual craft. Encounters, a new podcast available exclusively on Wondery+, takes a deep dive into one of the most famous and still unresolved UFO encounters to ever take place in the UK. Featuring shocking testimony from first-hand witnesses, hosts, journalist, podcaster and UFO researcher Andy McGillan, that's me, and producer Elle Scott take us back to the nights in question and examine all of the evidence and conflicting theories about what was encountered in the middle of a snowy Suffolk forest 40 years ago. Are we alone? Encounters is a podcast which is going to find out. Listen to Encounters exclusively in ad free on Wondry+.

Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or in Apple podcasts. He was hip hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk Cafe, Sean Diddy Cone. first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood walk. Did he built an empire and live the life most people only dream about everybody no no party like a big party so yeah. But just as quickly as his empire rose it came crashing

down. They're announcing the unsealing of a 3 count indictment charging Sean combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up and I hit rock bottom. But I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real.

Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace from law and crime this is the rise and fall of getting listen to the rise and fall of getting exclusively with one 3 plus. In a final and dramatic attempt to convince a jury of suicide, the defense brings the blood-stained bed to the courtroom, still preserved. Defense forensic expert Celia Hartnett shows jurors how David Leath could have fired all three shots. If I were to lie in bed and I were to aim at my head

and pull the trigger and miss high and create this... Yes. And then, frustrated that I've missed, sat up and pulled the trigger. It would enter my head here. Yes. And then if I fell and my hand squeezed again,

it would be consistent with this direction. Not just with the direction, but also with the distance. We're not saying we know exactly what happened. We're just saying we know there are multiple ways that all of this makes sense, that don't have anything to do with the homicide. There was only one person who wanted to harm David, and at that point it was David.

He was acting with his physicians, suicidal. He's becoming useless. And a proud man doesn't want to be useless. But for the prosecution, the most incriminating evidence isn't at the crime scene. It's at the barber shop, where Raynella called Cindy Wilkerson on the morning of the shooting. Raynella had already left David at home. She made the call from Park West Hospital, where she was visiting David's mother. She asked me if I had seen my dad and that he had went to work out on an empty stomach. Was that normal?

No. She never called me at work. That was the first indication on March 13th, 2003, that anything was unusual about David Lee. The prosecution says the call was part of Raynella's elaborate alibi to prove she wasn't at home with David, but they say she miscalculated. Remember, Raynella told police she put breakfast by the bed and left the house around 930. She made the call to Cindy just 20 minutes later.

There would have been no reason to say, have you seen him? There would have been no reason to ask if he'd worked out. And there certainly would have been no reason to say he didn't eat his breakfast, because there's no way she could have known that unless she had been there and unless the only reason she knew he hadn't eaten breakfast was because he was dead. Have you seen your father today? That's the question the prosecution once burned into jurors' minds as both sides make their final case.

It's the only explanation. Raynella Leath is guilty of the first degree premeditated homicide of David Leath. We can't say that the facts exclude the theory that David Leath shot himself, as I demonstrated for you. Be as diligent as you have been since we started, and to return a verdict of not guilty. Murder David Leath. As all eyes turn to the jury,

there are things about Raynella Leath they'll never hear. They don't know about Ed Dossett. And they don't know about Steve Walker. I'm a crouton on a real big salad here, and this is a big salad in this town. Steve Walker's ex-wife was Ed Dossett's secretary. Their relationship, as it turns out, was more than just professional. In 1995, three years after Ed's death, Steve found out during divorce proceedings that

the son he raised was actually Ed Dossett's biological child. It came as a terrible shock to Steve and Raynella. I mean, in some ways you felt that you were on her side. Raynella, yes. I thought we was on the same team. He could not have been more wrong. According to a police report filed by Raynella, on the morning of May 26th of that year, she found Steve quote,

acting psychotic near Ed's grave on the farm. She told police she began firing warning shots into the ground to chase him away and that Steve then took the weapon and fled on foot. But when Steve filed his own report he told a very different story. He says that same morning, Rainella picked him up at the auto shop where he works and drove him to the farm to talk about the affair. Till I seen the gun, we was as friendly as me and you right now. When they got to Raynella's barn,

Steve says she suddenly pulled out a revolver. In a police interview, Steve told investigators Raynella then said, I'll kill you, you son of a bitch. Then I'll raise the sun. She had a tail around her hands and she comes up with it and starts shooting. But the former marksman missed. Oh!

Steve started running, but tripped and fell. I'm defenseless. She said, I used to be better shot there, but I can hit you from here. And she aimed that gun and I closed my eyes. She pulled the trigger. I knew I was gone. But the gun was out of bullets.

There was no doubt in my mind. If she hadn't run out of bullets, I'd be dead. The police believed Steve Walker's story. And Raynella was arrested and charged with attempted murder. But she took a deal and pled guilty to a lesser charge of assault. After six years, her record was cleared. Why would she plead guilty? It's the same thing I would have told her.

This is a plea that will get expunged. There is no jail time. Take this deal and walk away. Raynella Leith did walk away. And I thank you for your time and attention. And Ms. Leith thanks you for your time and attention. 22 years later, she's hoping to walk away again. But as the jurors are ready to have their voices heard.

As jurors, you are the ones that will decide the case. Something happens that no one sees coming. If you can picture like a cartoon, you know, of someone's jaw hitting the floor. Thank you. I really, really tried to pay attention and took notes. So I was really looking forward to deliberating. With her daughter by her side,

Raynella Leith arrives at court for the final time. Let the record reflect that all parties are present in the courtroom, including the defendant. Before the jurors can decide her fate, there's just one more piece of business. If it pleases the court... It's a defense motion called a Rule 29. Pursue it to Rule 29.

A routine request made in nearly every trial to throw out the case for lack of evidence. In most cases, the judge simply denies the motion and gives the jurors the case. Only two words are required, either motion granted or motion denied. But then, like so many times in the story of Raynella Leath, something completely unexpected happens.

In short, the state has failed to meet their burden. The defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal is granted. The defendant, Raynella Leath, is not guilty. The case against Raynella Leath is dismissed. Not guilty. The judge on his own acquits Raynella Leath of murder. After 14 years of suspicion, six years behind bars,

and three hard fought trials just like that, it's all over. As the defense celebrates, She's free. She's done. The end. David Lee's daughter Cindy sits stunned. The prosecution does too.

I don't understand it. I don't have an explanation. And under Tennessee law, there's no appeal either because the judge made his extremely rare decision before the jury began deliberations. These jurors, initially shocked, become angry. We were just used. I mean, they just used us as set pieces pretty much.

If Judge Summers was so convinced that he was right about the evidence, why not let us deliberate it? And how do you explain that? I can't. Only Judge Summers can. So we asked Judge Summers, now retired, to make his case to 48 hours. And he agreed. Strictly based on the evidence that I heard on both sides, but particularly on the state

side, if I'd have been the district attorney general, I would not have brought the case to trial. Did you choose to do this, to end this case, to finally end this case? Yes. You did? I did. When I realized the evidence was legally insufficient, I decided to end this case by doing my job and granting the motion for judgment of acquittal. Judge Summers believed that there was enough evidence for the jury to decide a homicide

may have occurred, but he was convinced the prosecution didn't meet its burden to prove that Raynelle Leith had the time or the opportunity to commit it. There was no gunshot residue found on her clothes or around her. She had an alibi that the state could not prove the time of death. The evidence was clearly insufficient to show that she was the perpetrator of the crime. And finally, there was no evidence to show that she was even the last person ever to see David Leath alive. If you were so sure that there wasn't enough evidence for the jury to convict her beyond

a reasonable doubt, wouldn't the jury have come to the same conclusion? I was simply doing my job, not trying to pass the buck to the jury. Judges sometimes make these extraordinary decisions when they fear jurors might be swayed by emotion and not evidence. And that may have been a factor in this case. While we will never know for sure what the whole jury would have done,

we have a clue. If you had gotten to vote, how would you have voted? Guilty. How would you have voted? Guilty. How would you have voted? Guilty. How would you have voted? Guilty. Do you feel Raynella Leith got away with murder?

I absolutely feel she got away with murder. For William McMichael, Jesse Capps, and Michael Percicano, it was the gun that pointed to Raynella as the killer. There's no way David Leith fired that third shot. And you don't believe the defense witness who said, well, you can have this spasm after death that pulled the trigger the third time? That's fantasy.

What most convinced you, Jesse, that this wasn't just a murder, but that Raynella Leath was the one who killed her husband? When Joshua Hedrick was sitting on that bed and he was twirling that cylinder on that gun, a burden to my family. It was just so corny. A proud man doesn't want to be a burden.

It was fake. He was trying so hard. After that, I was like, all right, they're trying so hard that it's so obvious now. It wasn't just these three. They say shortly after the judge's decision, a majority of jurors gathered near the courthouse and came to the same conclusion.

Admittedly, they did not deliberate, but they would have found her guilty. Does that make it worse? Yeah, I guess so in some ways. But in another sense, it tells me I did the right thing. And more importantly, our work as trial attorneys was spot on. For David Lee's family, it's little consolation. He stole that verdict from the family, from the prosecution, from the jury.

It was a theft. Some in this town will always call her a black widow, but for Raynella Leath, none of that matters. Raynella, how do you feel? Do you want to talk to us? Because as she leaves courtroom number two. How are you doing, Raynella? You guys weren't worried about her before,

so leave her alone now. She walks away a free woman. Do you have anything to say? Please leave my mom alone. Did it cross your mind you might be letting a killer go free? You know, there's a difference between being not guilty and being innocent. If the state does not prove its case,

they are found not guilty. It doesn't say that they're innocent. So you're not saying that Raynella Leath is innocent. You're saying not guilty. There are two entities of which I'm aware that know the answer to that question. One is the good Lord above and the other one is the defendant, Raynella Leith. podcast you can listen ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.

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