Retrial starts in 1996 bludgeoning death case

<p>Fulton County prosecutors began trying for the second time to convict a woman for the 1996 slaying of a Roswell businessman.</p><p>Dionne Baugh was convicted in April 2001 for the killing of Lance Herndon, 41, but that conviction was thrown out in July by the Georgia Supreme Court. The justices ruled that disputed trial testimony from a police detective should not have been allowed.</p><p>The court said then there was ample evidence to convict Baugh, who was arrested nearly 1 1/2 years after Herndon was killed. Herndon was the chief executive officer of computer consulting firm Access Inc.</p><p>The new trial began Tuesday.</p><p>Prosecutor Clint Rucker will attempt to persuade a jury that Baugh crushed Herndons skull in August 1996. He said proof includes a strand of Baughs hair found on the mans body, her DNA found under his fingernails and the fact she had a laptop computer missing from his home.</p><p>But Baugh has denied killing him. There were no witnesses to the slaying and no one can put the couple _ who were lovers _ together near the time of his death. She has said she borrowed the computer.</p><p>After the first trial, the state Supreme Court ruled that the jury should not have heard testimony from William E. Anastasio, a Roswell detective. Anastasio was called by the prosecution to rebut Baughs alibi. He said some witnesses had given him information that contradicted her statements to police.</p><p>A justice wrote that such testimoney was pure hearsay and inadmissible to corroborate the witnesses or bolster their credibility before the jury.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/10/185145