David Leath
By all accounts David was a caring and easy-going man who would do anything for anyone. He always had a joke for everyone. He would often laugh so hard in the telling of his jokes that he wouldn't be able to finish them. He was very likable. He loved to work on cars and go to stock car races. He also liked to work out regularly.
Peggy and David had been living with David's parents, but when Peggy's father gave them some land, David had a house built on the property and they moved in.
David loved to pull pranks with his friend Gordon Armstrong. One Halloween the two men used kerosene to set railroad crossing guard on fire. Unbeknownst to them, that was the very road that David's father-in-law use to travel on on his way home from work.
David and Gordon also loved to pull pranks on each other. David loved to stuff hair clippings in Gordon's pipe and would watch when he would gag as he'd try to smoke his pipe. Gordon loved to tie the cords together to all of David's clippers and would watch in jest as David would try to unravel the mess so he could get to work.
In 1970, Peggy learned that David was having an affair and she filed for divorce. Later that year, David was chopping wood when a splinter went into his left eye. He didn't go to the doctor right away and when he finally went, the doctor diagnosed him with a detached retina. He told David he'd never see out of that eye again. David's eye atrophied. This made him self-conscious and from that point on, he wore sunglasses most of the time and when he didn't, he'd try to keep his head down.
David met a woman named Debbie at his doctor's office. They dated a couple of years. In the summer of 1979, David and Debbie got married and then and built a house with a swimming pool on the property behind David's mother's house. Then one day he came home to find that is wife wasn't there. Debbie had left him for another man, she also had taken pretty much all the furniture along with her belongings.
David was not in a good state and he began drinking more that he use to. Regardless, he still had a good relationship with his daughter. A couple years later, he walked her down the isle when she got married. Cindy went on to have a son. David was over the moon. He loved being a grandfather and adored that little boy. School vacations David would watch his grandson full time while Cindy worked.
On March 14th, 1982, David's sister, Phyllis Charlene Leath Hendrix, passed due to her battle with Systemic scleroderma, an autoimmune disorder that affects the skin and internal organs. It ravaged her heart, lungs and her digestive tract.
When his neighbor and best friend since childhood, Ed Dossett, was diagnosed with terminal cancer David would make house calls and cut Ed's hair. He also helped out Ed's wife, Raynella out on Ed's farm.
Raynella Bernardene Large is described as confident and intelligent. She really valued education.
Raynella was born on October 25th, 1948. She was the second child of Annie Irene Owens and Dewey Ernest Large. Annie was a school teacher and Dewey had a purple heart from serving in the Air Corps. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Energy as a atomic scientist, was a Baptist church decon and was an active member of the Order of the Masons, Sevierville Lodge.
Her school was exceptional and had a wonderful science program. Also, by the time the students in her school were in the second grade, they were already learning a second language.
She graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1966 and from there went on to attend East Tennesse State University. Raynella was on the rifle team and studying to become a nurse. That is where she met Ed Dossett.
On Easter morning, 1956, Ed was just 8 years old when he woke up to find his mother on the floor, dead of a heart attack. Two months later, his father died from cancer. Ed ended up an orphan and ended up moving in with his aunt and uncle.
Despite the tragedies in Ed's life, he was described as a go getter who was exceptionally kind. In high school he played football. He also worked on the school newspaper and a member of several clubs. His senior year at Karns High School, he was given the award for "Best School Spirit". After Ed graduated high school he went on to attend college through a football scholarship.
Through Ed's freshman year of college, he continued to date his high school sweetheart who many people thought he would end up marrying. However, when Ed met Raynella he broke up with his sweetheart.
After Raynella graduated college, she began working as a registered nurse at Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville and eventually became head nurse. She also held a social work license.
To the doctors she was known as easy to get along with and to the other nurses and medical staff she was considered tough.
In 1972, Ed graduated from law school and had inherited his 165-acre family farm in the tight-knit community of Solway. He called himself a farmer and a country lawyer. He said that he was a farmer first and a lawyer second.
Ed ended up being quite a popular and good lawyer. He worked in criminal law. He liked to help those in need, especially those that were financially strained.
In 1978, Raynella gave birth to their first child, Maggie. The family moved into a mobile home on the farm as their new house was being built. Ed worked hard on their home and used lumber from their own trees. He had an architect that designed the home and a contractor friend that advised him how to do things, but Ed did all the manual labor.
Raynella helped Ed with his campaign and their hard work paid off. Ed won the election. After the win, the local sheriff gave Ed a five shot pistol and told him he needed it to protect himself.
The next year, Raynella gave birth to their second child, William Edward Gossett Jr. or Eddie as he liked to be called.
Ed had a secretary named Kay Walker. Kay's husband's name was Steve. Kay and Steve would hang out with Ed and Raynella. In 1984, Kay gave birth to a son named Kevin and left Ed's practice. Then next year, Raynella gave birth to their third child, Katy. Raynella stopped visiting with Kay and Steve, but Ed spent a lot of time at the couple's home. The reason why Ed spent a lot of time there is because he was having an affair with Kay. Some say that Kay was in love with Ed. In 1988, Kay gave birth to her second son, Kyle. Steve wouldn't find out until years later that Kyle was really Ed's son.
In 1990, Raynella retired from nursing to concentrate on her children and the family farm. David Leath was Ed's neighbor and he would let Raynella's children play in his pool.
That year, Ed began having stomach pains. In a local board meeting for local farmers he stated that he had the meanest wife in the world who was trying to kill him.
In 1991, Ed made plans to run for governor.
In October of 1991, Ed was admitted into the hospital to have an apicectomy and that is when the doctors found on his appendix as well as his small intestine. This prompted the doctors to take a more in depth look and in doing so they found that Ed's abdomen was riddled with cancer and he was terminal.
Raynella kept Ed's diagnosis from most people, which allegedly was not Ed's choice. Instead, Raynella would tell people that he was just recovering from surgery and he was fine and would be back to work.
Ed's cousin, Elizabeth Peril, came down from Illinois to visit, but Raynella refused to let her in the house. So Elizabeth turned around and left. A few days after Elizabeth returned home, she received a letter from Raynella stating that Ed was to sick to have visitors. This upset and disappointed Elizabeth because she really wanted to see her cousin and she knew that Ed really wanted to see her.
In June of 1992, Ed was still working. He was able to attain state and federal funding to create a special DUI unit to catch repeat offenders.
By July 9th, however, the disease took a toll and Ed was bed ridden and on morphine for his pain. At 3:30p.m. that afternoon, there was a call placed to 911.
This is where i am not sure exactly how things went. There is conflicting information about the call made to 911. Some accounts say that Raynella called 911 and claimed that Ed had no pulse after being trampled by his own cattle. Some other accounts state that she also alleged that she had previously tried to call 911 from her cellphone, but no one answered. So she had ran up to the house to use the house phone, but when she got there she couldn't remember the hospital's phone number. That very hospital is where she had been the Director of Nursing previously. She claimed that the only number she could remember was to the local market. So she called the local market and they dialed 911.
Nevertheless, the medical examiner arrived before the police, Ed was in the field with Raynella next to him. Ed was then rushed to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at age 44.
Raynella told the Knox County sheriff's detective that she helped Ed outside to see his cattle. She said that something must have spooked the cattle because when she looked, Ed was on the ground and were coming out of the corral. Raynella claimed that she did attempt CPR.
In October of 1991, Ed was admitted into the hospital to have an apicectomy and that is when the doctors found on his appendix as well as his small intestine. This prompted the doctors to take a more in depth look and in doing so they found that Ed's abdomen was riddled with cancer and he was terminal.
Raynella kept Ed's diagnosis from most people, which allegedly was not Ed's choice. Instead, Raynella would tell people that he was just recovering from surgery and he was fine and would be back to work.
Ed's cousin, Elizabeth Peril, came down from Illinois to visit, but Raynella refused to let her in the house. So Elizabeth turned around and left. A few days after Elizabeth returned home, she received a letter from Raynella stating that Ed was to sick to have visitors. This upset and disappointed Elizabeth because she really wanted to see her cousin and she knew that Ed really wanted to see her.
In June of 1992, Ed was still working. He was able to attain state and federal funding to create a special DUI unit to catch repeat offenders.
By July 9th, however, the disease took a toll and Ed was bed ridden and on morphine for his pain. At 3:30p.m. that afternoon, there was a call placed to 911.
This is where i am not sure exactly how things went. There is conflicting information about the call made to 911. Some accounts say that Raynella called 911 and claimed that Ed had no pulse after being trampled by his own cattle. Some other accounts state that she also alleged that she had previously tried to call 911 from her cellphone, but no one answered. So she had ran up to the house to use the house phone, but when she got there she couldn't remember the hospital's phone number. That very hospital is where she had been the Director of Nursing previously. She claimed that the only number she could remember was to the local market. So she called the local market and they dialed 911.
Nevertheless, the medical examiner arrived before the police, Ed was in the field with Raynella next to him. Ed was then rushed to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at age 44.
Raynella told the Knox County sheriff's detective that she helped Ed outside to see his cattle. She said that something must have spooked the cattle because when she looked, Ed was on the ground and were coming out of the corral. Raynella claimed that she did attempt CPR.
Raynella also claimed that she had gotten very angry after Ed was trampled that she went and grabbed a rifle and shot one of the cows. When authorities looked at the cows, they found no evidence of any of them being shot.
Randall had been under scrutiny for years for writing to many prescriptions for narcotics. He also has previously taken a four month's leave of absence for having his own narcotics and alcohol addiction. Two years after Ed's death, Randall would be in trouble with the law for allegations of drugging and molested a teenage boy at the doctor's condominium. He also was shot by police when they came to take him in for questioning and wasn't able to practice medicine again.
Back to Ed's death. Randall stated that the notion of a domestic cattle stampede raised suspicions about insurance fraud, not murder. That maybe Raynella had taken Ed out to pasture after he'd passed. That Raynella would receive double the money from the insurance company if Ed's death was ruled as an accident instead of cancer.
Randall found traumatic injuries consistent with trampling. Ed's sternum and some of his ribs were fractured and his lung's had hemorrhaged. He has multiple abrasions on his arms and torso and there was a horse shoe print in the middle of the bib of his overalls.
Randall later would state that he had felt pressured to rule Ed's death as an accident, which he did even before receiving the results from the toxicology report. When the results came in they went unchecked and the investigators didn't investigate the matter any further.
July 12th was Ed's funeral.
After Ed passed away David was a pallbearer at his funeral.
After Ed's funeral, Raynella had him buried the farm. Ed's side of the family weren't happy about that decision They thought that Ed had wanted to have been buried by his mother and that Raynella wasn't honoring his last wishes. They also thought that it was unusual that she was very chatty and laughing the day of his funeral.
On a Thursday in August of 1992, David asked Raynella on a date. On that date and every Thursday since, David would bring Raynella a single red rose. A few months later, he told his family and friends that he was going to marry Raynella. David's family and friends warned him that it was too soon to get married to her and that it didn't look quite right.
David signed a prenuptial agreement to protect Raynella's property and on January 9th, 1993, they married. He sold his house and moved into the one that Ed had built. David had a wife and three more kids to look after.
David treated Raynella like a queen and she treated him like a king. David built her the green house she had been wanting for some time and Raynella bought him a pickup he'd always wanted. She even fixed his food and start his car in the morning. They were seen holding hands, and only having nice things to say about one another.
After a couple of years of David and Raynella being married, Cindy began to witness turmoil in the couple's relationship. She even found her dad crying in the back of his pickup truck. David assured Cindy that he and Raynella would work things out.
David's father liked to go hunting. Even though David didn't care for it and never fired a shot, he'd go hunting with his father in order to spend time with him. On November 28th,1991, while on a hunt, David's father collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. There he had a massive heart attack and passed away.
David's dad's death hit him hard and he amped up his drinking again for a while. He also wanted to get rid of everything that reminded him of his dad. David had his mother sell his dad's truck and he bulldozed his dad's stand-alone garage. This is also when David really started to hate guns.
On December 15th, 1994, Raynella's 15-year-old daughter, Maggie, had her learners permit and was driving with her 11-year-old brother, Eddie in the passenger seat. Less a mile from the family farm, Maggie approached an intersection and failed to yield to another vehicle. Eddie wasn't wearing his seatbelt and Maggie plowed right into the other vehicle. Eddie was ejected out of the passenger side window.
The accident report stated that Raynella was in the passenger seat, which she wasn't as witnessed by a first responder and also a neighbor who happened upon the scene before Raynella. Another neighbor had witnessed the accident and went and picked up Raynella and brought her to the scene.
So her daughter wouldn't get in trouble, she lied and said that she had been in the passenger seat while her daughter drove. The neighbor who had been first on scene was a African/ American man and he was afraid to come forward and didn't think anybody would believe him anyway. And it seems that the first responder just looked the other way.
Everyone involved in the accident were taken to the hospital. The driver of the other vehicle was in critical condition, Maggie was treated for minor injuries and obviously Raynella had none. Eddie, however, was in really bad shape and ended up passing away from his injuries. He was then buried on the farm by his dad.
Eddie's death devastated Raynella, David and Eddie's sister Katie, but seemed to have no effect on Maggie.
The district attorney wanted charges brought against the other driver because they had been driving with a suspended license after a DUI. The district attorney also didn't want Maggie to face any charges, but the Tennessee Highway Patrol didn't agree and in February of 1995, Maggie was charged with failure to yield. The prosecutor took Maggie's case to juvenile court and the case was dismissed.
A couple months after David and Raynella losing Eddy, David's daughter gave birth to his granddaughter in April of 1995. David was over the moon!
Shortly after Ed's death Steve's wife accounted that she wanted a divorce because she had fallen in love with another man. During the divorce proceedings, Steve found out that Ed was the biological father of his son, Kyle. So, when Steve was at Raynella's kitchen table listening to how she knew that Kyle was Ed's son, it didn't come as much of a shock.
Less than a week later, at 11a.m., Raynella showed up to Steve's work and claimed that she had found that both of Steve's kids were really Ed's. She said she had found papers in her barn proved it. Steve hopped in Raynella's car and went to the farm. When they arrived, Raynella's mother was outside working in the garden. Raynella told her mother she was taking Steve to the barn to show him something.
According to Steve, as they were driving past Ed's grave on their way to the barn, Raynella stopped and said that she was sure that Steve was mad at Ed and that she would turn her head if he wanted to piss on his grave. Steve then said he'd never do that and then they kept on driving.
Once at the barn, Raynella pointed to a bucket that she said the papers were in. When Steve looked in the bucket it was filled with paint. He then turned back to Raynella, who was wrapping a towel around her hand. In the hand with a towel wrapped around it, Raynella held a revolver. She then fired at Steve twice and shouted that she would kill him and Kay and that she would raise the Kyle.
The bullets missed Steve and he ran through some woods and out into a pasture. He then heard Raynella driving her car across the pasture. When she got close to Steve, she fired the gun again and again she missed. At one point, Steve climbed over a fence hurt his ankle fell down. Raynella got out of the car, came right up to him and put the gun to his head. She pulled the trigger, but the gun just clicked. Raynella was out of bullets.
Raynella then told Steve that she would take him back to the house and help him with his ankle and talk things over. Steve told Raynella to leave the gun there and he would. Raynella set the gun on the fence post and started walking back to the car. Steve was walking behind her and when he approached the gun, he grabbed it and ran to a neighbor's house. Unfortunately, that neighbor wasn't home, so Steve found a culvert to hide in while Raynella drove around looking for him. When she couldn't find him, she drove to Kay's house.
Whatever Raynella told Kay she believed her. Kay called her children's day care center and told them not to let Steve pick up the kids because he was acting crazy.
David believed Raynella when she told him that the gun accidently went off. And that if she wanted him dead, that she wouldn't have missed.
Raynella claimed that David put his copy of his will in his sock, but his friend Gordan claimed that David had told him that he had put it in a cabinet in the garage.
In January of 1996, Raynella was indicted by a grand jury. Two weeks before her trail, a plea agreement was reached. Raynella agreed to plead guilty to assault if the attempted murder charge was dropped. She got six years on probation and 100 hours of community service. If she kept out of trouble, at the end of her sentence, her criminal record would be expunged.
On August 12th, David and Raynella tore up their prenuptial and signed two new wills with their attorney, Charles Child. Child gave the parties the originals of the wills and retained signed duplicate copies at his office. In David's will, he disinherited Cindy and his grandkids and Raynella was named the executor. Upon David's mother's death, Raynella would also inherit the family home and property. According to Child, David wasn't happy with his new will and didn't fully understand it. He wanted to meet without Raynella.
On January 3rd, 2000, David was hospitalized for delirium and hallucinations. According to his doctor, Ronald Bryan, he was lethargic, sleepy but arousable and fundamentally coherent, but with loss of memory. An EEG was conducted and produced an abnormal reading, and the MRI showed that David had suffered a mini stroke. He also had high cholesterol and herpes simplex encephalitis. Herpes simplex encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain usually caused due to infection that causes headache or fever.
When David's family showed up to the hospital, Raynella was angry and told David's daughter, Cindy, that she would call her if there was anything she needed her to know. She then sent Cindy away.
March 1st, Raynella went and prepaid for cremation options for her and David.
At the age of 54, David retired from being a barber and passed his chair along to his daughter, Cindy. Cindy said that David didn't seem confused and that she was told he was retiring because he had an enlarged prostate and had to use a catheter.
David would often visit the barber shop. He also continued to work out and tan. He would hang out with his friends, and they didn't notice any mental instability.
On March 8th of 2001, David was hospitalized again after he experienced an episode of confusion, and short-term memory difficulties, such as forgetting to answer the phone or to take a bath; emotional ups and downs; short temper; and falling asleep frequently through the day. David also told his doctor that he thought that Raynella was trying to kill him by smothering him. His doctor just brushed it off because he thought that David was just being paranoid.
On March 1st, 2002, Dr. Bryan conducted a mini-mental status exam which measured David's orientation, memory, and attention. At one point during the test, David began to cry because he was unable to spell a word backwards. David scored 22 out of a possible 30 on this test and that this score indicated “mild dementia”. However, considering the possibility that the mini stroke that David had suffered might be causing small seizures, he was prescribed an epilepsy medication.
At a follow up exam on March 28th, 2002, Dr. Bryan noted that David's symptoms had improved in that he was no longer sleeping during the day, his memory was better, his mood was better, and he was interested in more activities and had recently bought a fishing license.
At a visit on July 3rd, 2002, Dr. Bryan re-administered the mini-mental status exam. David's score had improved, and he would have had a perfect score but for the fact that he could not spell a word backwards. Dr. Bryan prescribed a medication to improve the David's memory.
On September 30th, 2002, Raynella's record was expunged, and she was off probation.
On October 17th, 2002, Dr. Bryan noted David had mood swings. Dr. Bryan asked if David would come back in at the end of the month. When David came back, he had improved again.
David's final visit to the Dr. Bryan was on January 16th, 2003, he was crying and seemed to be frustrated because he was having memory problems. However, his condition did not appear to be deteriorating.
Later that month, when Raynella went into the hospital to have a hysterectomy, she had David drop her off and told him she didn't want him to visit her. The next day, when he went and picked her up, he learned that Raynella had a double mastectomy as well, because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
On March 6th, 2003, David had dropped by the home of his former in laws. David mentioned about his plans to go street rods car show later that month. He also mentioned about a trip he was going to take with Gordon in May.
On March 8th, 2003, David went to visit his mom, who had a turn for the worst. Raynella had dropped him off and refused to go inside with him because of a liver disease she said she had. She said that the disease compromised her immune system, and she could not go into the hospital because it was too risky.
On March 8th, 2003, David went to visit his mom, who had a turn for the worst. Raynella had dropped him off and refused to go inside with him because of a liver disease she said she had. She said that the disease compromised her immune system, and she could not go into the hospital because it was too risky.
In the evening, David's daughter, Cindy, came by and noticed that his speech was slightly slurred. David said he wasn't feeling well. While Cindy was there, Raynella called the house. Cindy asked her stepmother what was wrong with her dad. Raynella claimed that it was a side effect from David's high blood pressure medication.
Later that evening, David was feeling better, and he went with Cindy to Arby's for dinner. The two had a great time talking and laughing. Cindy said that her dad seemed in a great mood.
The next day, Cindy went to visit her dad again and found him crying in his car. When asked what was wrong, David told Cindy that everything would be ok.
On March 10th, 2003, Cindy spoke with her dad on the phone. They got together two days later and made plans to haul a load of mulch the following day. Cindy and David's friend said that he seemed to be ok mentally and that he was in a really good mood.
On March 13th, 2003, a teary-eyed Raynella went Parkwest Hospital and approached registered nurse, Barbara Sadler. It was around 9.am. and Raynella told Sadler that she was upset because she did not want David's mom to be sent to a nursing home. Since there was no social worker on the floor at that time, Sadler told the Raynella
she would take care of David's mom. Raynella also told her that David was home sick with high blood pressure that morning.
Just before 10a.m., Raynella called David's daughter, Cindy, at work. She had never called Cindy at work before. Raynella had asked Cindy if David had stopped by to talk to her. Cindy told Raynella that she had not spoken to her father that morning. Raynella said that David didn’t eat his oatmeal and she didn't want him to go work out on an empty stomach, which she assumed he had. Raynella then told Cindy was at the hospital visiting David's mother and brought her some flowers. Raynella then put then put David's mother on the phone and Cindy and her grandmother spoke briefly before Cindy hung up and returned to work.
Cindy thought that Raynella had sounded a little odd. That Raynella she seemed too chipper. Raynella rarely visited David's mother and had never brought her flowers before.
Ann Troutman was a guidance counselor at Karns High School, which was Raynella's daughters' school. Kate and her sister were very active in school and Raynella was at the school quite often as well. Katie used the phone in Troutman's office to call her mom that day around 10:15a.m. to ask her to bring some stomach medicine.
Sergeant Thomas Fox of the Knoxville Police Department lived near Raynella and David. Raynella and Fox's wife were friends. Sometime after Raynella left the hospital and before 11a.m., Fox was retrieving the newspaper from his mailbox when Raynella pulled up in her car. In all the times that Fox had been at his mailbox, Raynella had never stopped to talk with him before. As the two talked briefly Raynella seemed to be in a good mood and laughed during their conversation.
Troutman saw Raynella at the high school around 11a.m. and brought drinks for her and Katie. Raynella stayed in Troutman’s office for about fifteen minutes and was friendly and pleasant.
Kathy Hobson, a secretary at the high school. She stated that Raynella arrived between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. Raynella went to the guidance office and then came to the main office to speak with Hobson. Raynella stood there quite a while and talked to her and another secretary about several things. Raynella seemed normal and was happy and jovial.
Shortly before 11:30a.m., Raynella placed a call to 9-1-1:
Raynella - "Help me! Help me!"
9-1-1 Operator- "Ma'am where are you?"
Raynella- "Please help me!"
9-1-1 Operator- "Ma'am what is going on? Ma'am?
Raynella- "My-my husband shot himself! Hurry!"
9-1-1 Operator- "Ok where is your husband? Where's your husband?"
Raynella- "He's here in bed! Please hurry, i'm gonna.. i'm gonna vomit!"
9-1-1 Operator- "Ma'am... Ma'am! Calm down... Ok, Ma'am... Ma'am! Ma'am, i need you to calm down so i can get some help to you, ok? Ma'am... "
Sergeant David Amburn of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Assistant Chief Deputy L. Keith Lyon were the first officers to arrive at the scene. The door to Raynella's home was open and Raynella was lying face down, motionless and quiet in the front yard. At first Amburn thought that maybe Raynella had been shot. Amburn nudged her with his foot and said "Ma'am." Raynella began heavy crying to the point where it seemed like she was having problems catching her breath. Amburn then helped Raynella up and she began yelling uncontrollably. She had a rag in her hand and there was no noticeable blood on her. The lack of blood on Raynella suggests that she didn't attempt CPR. She seemed out of it and hysterical. Raynella asked Amburn to help her husband and informed him where David had been shot and where he was before she started talking what Amburn thought was nonsense. According to Amburn, Raynella seemed genuinely overcome with grief. Amburn and Lyon then left Raynella by herself, out front, while they went in the house to check on David.
Amburn and Lyon checked all of the rooms, closets, and under the beds. When Amburn and Lyon had finished, there were other officers at the front door, and Raynella had been moved from the yard to the front porch. According to Amburn, Raynella's vehicle felt “lukewarm,” like it had been driven sometime “in the last couple of hours.”
Sgt. Robert D. Lee of the KCSO arrived at the scene shortly after Amburn and Lyon and he had his own version of events. According to Lee, Lyon was alone in the foyer of the house while Amburn was in the front yard. Lee recalled that Raynella appeared to be “pretty upset.” Lee, rushed into the house because he thought it wasn't a good idea for Lyon to be alone in the house. Lee and Lyon then went into the bedroom, checked on David, then backed out and waited on the paramedics to arrive. The blood on David “was jelled.”
Lee secured the scene and stationed himself at the front door. He started a crime scene log to keep track of everyone who entered the house. Lyon walked the paramedics into the bedroom and that they confirmed that David was dead. There were a lot of people on the property that afternoon, including approximately thirty “civilians” who congregated at a barn near the residence. However, none of these “civilians” were allowed into the house or near the crime scene.
Detective Sergeant Perry Moyers of the KCSO was the lead detective in this case. He was next to arrive at the scene.
Moyers- "Hey, this is Detective Moyers with the Sheriff’s Department. We’re out on a possible suicide. Gunshot wound."
Lyon and Amburn and Lee gave him a quick assessment of the situation. Moyers noticed a bullet hole in the headboard of the bed. The bed was later removed, and a bullet was recovered from the wall, approximately twenty inches above the floor. There was also a bullet hole in the mattress near David’s body and the gun. Bullet fragments were later recovered from the bed frame and underneath the bed.
David had an entrance wound just above his left eyebrow.
Moyers- "The gun’s lying next to his left hand which is curled underneath him. …We got three fired rounds."
Lividity had begun to set in but had not yet become fixed. This meant that David had been dead for more than thirty minutes but less than five or six hours. The blood had started to pool on the bed and the floor beneath it. The blood on David and the bed appeared to be dried except for some blood still pouring out of his nose. There was a pillow between his head and shoulder. The sheets were tucked in around him up and down. There was no blood on the left side of the bed.
Moyers- "What I have a problem with is, one, where the round’s at, and the way he’s lying. … I’m not saying it stinks, I’m just saying it’s strange."
The gun found next David was a Colt .38 caliber “police special”
revolver. Moyers removed the gun, there was no blood spatter nor material found on the gun that you would normally find when a person is shot while the barrel of the gun is in contact with the skin or from a very close range. Moyers opened the gun’s cylinder and it contained three live rounds and three spent shell casings. The cylinder rotated clockwise, and at the top of the cylinder was a spent Western shell casing, then two spent Remington shell casings, one live Remington round, and two live Western rounds. No fingerprints were found on the gun and the live rounds, spent casings, and spent bullets were not tested for fingerprints.
There were no signs that there had been a struggle in the bedroom, but based upon the evidence at the scene, Moyers began to suspect David's death was not a suicide. Moyers believed that the blood spatter on the wall was not consistent with David having been shot where his body was lying. Measurements and photographs of the blood spatter were taken for later analysis. Moyers also noticed that the gunpowder around the bullet hole in the mattress appeared to be undisturbed. Based upon this, Moyers concluded that the body was in the position it was found in, and the sheets were tucked in around the body before the shot was fired into the mattress. Samples were taken from the hands of both David and the Raynella to test for gunshot residue. Raynella also gave Moyers the clothes she and her daughter had been wearing that day for forensic tests to be performed.
Three latex gloves were found on a shelf over a toilet in a bathroom adjoined to the bedroom. An open Bible was also found on a counter near the sink in the bathroom. The police did not search any other rooms in the house besides the bedroom and the adjacent bathroom. The police did check the house for signs of a break-in because the Raynella told Moyers that she had “secured the place” before she left and that “when she came back home, it was still secure.” There were no signs of a break-in, but none of the KCSO officers recalled checking to make sure the doors were actually locked. At first, Raynella told Moyers that she did not know where the gun came from or who it belonged to, but she later told Moyers that she thought the gun had belonged to David's deceased father.
Det. Moyers was told that the David had some medical problems and was depressed because his mother had a terminal illness. When Moyers asked Raynella for the name of the David’s doctor, she gave Moyers an appointment calendar that had information for the doctor appointments and journal entries that Raynella had wrote. Several entries from the end of January to March 8, 2003, Raynella described David as being “hateful,” “controlling,” and “paranoid.” In a couple of entries Raynell had written that David had “stayed in bed all day” or that he had made her cry.
Moyers asked Raynella about the dryer. Raynella alleged that she started the washer and dryer before she left in the morning.
The deeds and the will that David had signed where now missing.
Around 2p.m., Cindy was working at the barbershop when she found out about David's death and rushed to the farm. When Cindy arrived at the farm, Raynella told her that David had committed suicide. She also told Cindy about the dementia and mood swings.
When Cindy asked Raynella how her dad could have done this, Raynella replied “Well, he killed cows.”
None of this made sense to Cindy. She never witnessed her father behavior in any manner that Raynella was stating. Also, Cindy believed that David would never have hurt his face and would have been afraid that he would have been a vegetable. And David was right-handed, so why would he shoot himself with his left hand and above his eye that had the detached retina?
At the time, Raynella's oldest daughter, Maggie, was a student at the University of Tennessee when she was told that something was wrong at the farm. On her way there she learned of David's death. When she pulled up to the house Raynella was on the front porch holding a rag and shaking and talking to Moyers. According to Maggie, Raynella's eyes were glassed over, almost catatonic, and she was crying. And after a number of minutes and Raynella got worse and worse. Maggie feared that the Raynella was going to die. Maggie then took Raynella to the hospital.
Hobson drove Katie’s car from the high school parking lot to the Raynella's home that afternoon. As she was up, she saw Raynella being driven away by Maggie. It looked to Hobson that Raynella was close to being in shock, and she was very upset and had been crying.
Raynella stayed with Maggie for two weeks after David's murder. Maggie claims that Raynella was a mess and sad and fragile.
Polcan said that David appeared to be a well-built, well-groomed and obviously took care of himself. She noted that “he had a quite a bit of hair spray in his hair.” According Polchan, the cause of David's death “was a close-range gunshot wound” to the forehead, above the left eyebrow. The entrance wound was “a tear-drop shape” suggesting that the bullet entered at “a slightly downward angle.”
There was also a widespread area of stippling (unburned gunpowder imbedded into the skin around a wound) on the David’s forehead suggesting “the distance between the gunshot wound . . . and the muzzle was several inches.” Polchan compared the stippling on David’s forehead to the results from forensic testing in which the gun found beside the victim was fired from several different distances. Polchan concluded that the stippling on the victim’s forehead matched the stippling pattern created when the gun was fired from twelve inches away from a target. And that David’s wound was definitely not a contact wound. According to Polchan, forehead wounds were extremely rare in suicides and that it would be
even more rare for it to be a suicide with a non-contact wound.
The bullet entered the David’s skull, crossed through the left hemisphere and severed the victim’s brain stem. The bullet then ricocheted inside the skull before stopping. Polchan concluded that David's death was pretty much instantaneous. And since the shot that killed David was the second out of three, that he wouldn't have been able to fire the last shot into the mattress.
Polchan was unable to determine an exact time of death, but she estimated that it could be anywhere between just dead to about six hours. Given that there was evidence that some cooling already occurred when the body was found, Polchan narrowed the range to between one or two hours to six hours.
When Polchan examined the David’s brain she found no evidence that he suffered from Alzheimer’s. She did find that David's stomach was empty, but his bladder was full. Polchan took blood and urine samples to be tested for alcohol and drugs.
The next day, David was cremated. David's daughter and most of his family and friends thought that this was odd, because David believed that cremation was wrong. He believed that cremated people didn't go to heaven. He also had a burial plot next to his parents.
At David's funeral Raynella told people that she was "just David's hood ornament. And a few days after, she had David's ashes sent to Cindy.
Sometime after David's death, Hoyt Vanosdale showed up to the barbershop and delivered Cindy a cardboard box upon Raynella's request. Raynella had not told Hoyt that that box contained David's ashes, which Cindy then placed on a shelf of clean towels in the shop.
On March 19th, 2003, Randall Carr, the director of human resources at Parkwest Hospital had a “pretty unusual” meeting with Raynella. Raynella had a clinical mask over her face, which she removed once she had been shown to a conference room. Raynella had her daughter and a private investigator with her and was at the hospital because she had requested to interview several hospital employees. As
one of the interviews was concluding, the Raynella “gave the impression that something had just popped into her mind.”
Raynella told Carr that she remembered meeting and speaking
with a physical therapist who was working with David's mom on the morning of David's murder and “that must be noted in the medical records somewhere.” Raynella also said she remembered making a phone call to the David “to cheer him up” in front of the physical therapist. Raynella had said that David didn’t answer and then she started crying.
Carr checked David's mom's medical records, and the physical
therapist made a notation about seeing Raynella that morning at 9:53 a.m. on the day of David's death. However, there were several entries in the chart at 9:53 a.m., and it was possible that the physical therapist met with David's mom earlier in the morning. There were also references in David's mom's medical records to Raynella
having previously discussed her care with hospital employees.
A few weeks after the David’s murder, Cindy found an empty holster in David's mother's underwear drawer. Cindy turned the holster over to Moyers. The gun found beside David fit inside the holster. The holster was tested for fingerprints, and four latent fingerprints were found but were not of sufficient quality to be identified. Raynella had David's mom's pocketbook and house keys prior to the David’s murder. Raynella only visited David's mom in the hospital once after the David's death, and that was to return her pocketbook and house keys.
When the toxicology results came back, there had been no
trace of alcohol in David's system, however, there were drugs found in David's system, drugs that he didn't have a prescription for:
Demerol or Meperidine- used to help relieve moderate to severe pain. It may also be used before and during surgery or other procedures.
Sinequan- used to treat mental/mood problems such as depression and anxiety.
Phenergan or Promethazine- used to prevent and treat nausea and vomiting related to certain conditions (such as motion sickness, or before/after surgery). It is also used to treat allergy symptoms such as rash, itching, and runny nose. It may be used to help you feel sleepy/relaxed before and after surgery or to help certain opioid pain relievers (such as Meperidine) work better. The suppository form is used when medications cannot be taken by mouth. Promethazine is an antihistamine and works by blocking a certain natural substance (histamine) that your body makes during an allergic reaction.
According to Polchan, the presence of the metabolite norpethidine in David's body was evidence of chronic use of Demerol for at least several days. She also said that the amount of Sinequan in the blood was bordering on toxic levels and that these three drugs taken together were a very unsafe combination to be used.
Polchan surmised that the combination of drugs in David’s blood did not make him completely unconscious. That David was probably really out of it. That based upon the level of drugs in the David’s blood, he could not have gotten out of bed that morning, gone to work, or driven a car. Polchan did not know how the drugs got David’s system but theorized that they could have been mixed with food or injected. However, no needle marks were found. She thought that David could have ingested the drugs with “relatively light food” the night before his death and still have had an empty stomach at the autopsy.
Retired forensic scientist and expert in blood stain pattern analysis, Paulette Sutton, reviewed photographs of the crime scene as well as photographs and measurements of the blood spatter on the bedroom wall. Based upon the evidence she reviewed, Sutton theorized the gunshot into the headboard was fired before the fatal gunshot to the David's forehead. And since strands of the victim’s hair were found in the splinters caused by the bullet hole in the headboard, it meant that a bullet was fired into the headboard and then the hair came down into it and caught on it. When David was shot, blood traveled upward and to the left striking the wall at a ninety-degree angle. The blood spatter was found on the headboard and on the wall right above it. Based upon this evidence, Dutton said that David most likely was in a raised position with his head near the top of the headboard when he was shot. Once shot, David’s body would have dropped straight down. Sutton surmised that the blood spatter was inconsistent with the victim having been shot in the position his body was found in or in a low position close to lying down. Sutton also came to the conclusion that David’s death was a homicide.
Donald Carman is a special agent with the TBI and expert in ballistics. He examined the Colt .38 caliber revolver found beside David, three live cartridges found in the revolver, three spent cartridges found in the revolver, a spent bullet recovered from the wall of the bedroom, a bullet fragment recovered from underneath the bed, and a spent bullet recovered from the David’s brain during the autopsy. A spent Western shell casing, two spent Remington shell casings, one live Remington round, and two live Western rounds were recovered from the cylinder of the revolver.
Based upon the position of the Western shell casing when the cylinder was opened, and the fact that the bullet fragment found under the bed was a Western bullet, Carman deduced that the gunshot into the mattress was fired after the gunshots into the headboard and David’s forehead.
April 10th, 2003, Cindy tried to visit her grandmother, Mayme, but wasn't allowed in her room by Raynella's orders.
At around 1:10p.m. on April 11th, 2003, David's mother, Mayme Nadeene Bailey Leath passed away at the hospital. This made Cindy confused. Her grandmother's health had seemed to be improving.
David's daughter, Cindy, decided to contact Steve Walker to talk about the day that Raynella tried to kill him. He told her that she should just drop the whole thing because she is putting her life in danger.
Cindy wrote to the district attorney about David's case. After a month, Cindy still hadn't received a reply. Finding an outside prosecutor to take on David's case dragged on, making things more difficult since almost everybody working in that office either worked with Ed, knew Ed, or knew Raynella.
By 2006 the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said they were still investigating David’s death as a homicide, but still no charges had been filed. In March of that year, David's daughter, Cindy, filed a civil lawsuit against Raynella claiming that either she killed David or that she hired someone to kill him. The lawsuit was an attempt to cut Raynella out of any of the inheritance from her husband’s death.
The civil lawsuit came on for trial without a jury on August 17th.
On December 15th, 2006, the trial court ruled that David's new will wasn't valid and Cindy would receive have of the estate.
On January 11th, 2007, Raynella entered a not guilty plea at her arraignment.
During the investigation of David's death, medical examiner Polchan took a look at Ed Dossett's file and wasn't impressed. There were a few polaroids and they were at weird angles. The autopsy was incomplete and wasn't done by a forensic pathologist. Found that the injuries Ed sustained were not life threatening. Polchan said that Dossett’s morphine levels were “so extraordinarily high it is unlikely that any human could function in an ambulatory manner or continue to live.”
Special prosecutors assigned to the David Leath homicide tried twice, unsuccessfully, to persuade Judge Baumgartner to order Ed Dossett's body exhumed for a second autopsy. They then filed an appeal as well as took Ed's case to the grand jury.
On July 29th, 2008, the grand jury panel announced that Raynella did unlawfully, intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation did kill Ed Dossett. The next day was arrested and then released on a $25,000 bond.
On September 4th, 2008, Raynella entered a not guilty plea for Ed's murder.
March 2nd through the 12th, 2009, Raynella went on trial for the murder of David. Prosecutors theorized that Raynella drugged her husband to incapacitate him, shot him and staged a suicide scene. It was also alleged that Raynella's motive was David's estate. The prosecution also said that Raynella basically had faked being upset about David's death.
Raynella's lawyer, James A. H. Bell, stated that Raynella was not home at the time of David's death and that she is the victim of a botched and biased investigation that ignored ample evidence of suicide.
Sergeant David Amburn took the stand. He testified to the theatrics Raynella had displayed when he had arrived at the crime scene, backing up the prosecution's opening statement.
When the defense cross examined Amburn, Bell had Amburn to admit that Raynella had seemed overcome with grief when he arrived via his statement of when he arrived on scene.
The state called Jeff Cruz, a toxicologist for the T.B.I. He testified about the four drugs that had been found in David's system. He stated that the Phenergan or Promethazine, that was generally used to treat motion sickness or allergies, can cause the breathing to slow or to stop. People with high blood pressure, like David, should never take it.
The Demerol or Meperidine, Sinequan, Norpethidine and the Phenergan were not prescribed to David.
David's daughter, Cindy, fellow barbers Hoyt and Paul, along with David's friend Gordan, all testified that David hated guns, that he thought suicide would send a person to hell and that cremation went against his religious beliefs.
While on the stand, Cindy was accused of having her father's keys before his death, which she denied. Bell also asked Cindy if she knew what the worth of her father's estate was. Cindy said she didn't know. Bell yelled at Cindy and basically accused her of killing her father.
Roger Yarnell was a friend of David's since they were teenagers. He was supposed to meet David the day he died. Roger was next to take the stand. In cross examination he said that it seemed that David and Raynella had a good relationship, but that David was a very private person who never talked openly about his marriage.
Barbara Saddler was next. She was a registered nurse and Parkwest hospital for 28 years, so she had been there when Raynella was director of nursing. Barbara testified to seeing Raynella at the hospital around 9 a.m. the morning that David died. She said that Raynella seemed upset about her mother-in-law scheduled to be transported to a nursing home that day. And that Raynella claimed that David was home sick with high blood pressure so he couldn't help in the transportation.
Randall Carr was the Parkwest hospital human resources in 2003. He testified that drugs went missing while Raynella was director of nursing.
Medical examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan took the stand to refute the defense's claim of suicide. She said that the fatal shot was 12 to 14 inches away from David's head. The bullet had entered above his left eye, in which he was totally blind. And the concoction of medications in his system would render him unable to get out of bed that morning. She said that she doubted David ever a woke from his sleep before he died since he had and empty stomach and a full bladder. Darinka also stated that David was a healthy man without an apparent suicide issues. She said that the time of death was between
6 a.m. and 11:23 a.m. most likely before 9 a.m.
The defense suggested to Darinka that David's medical history was a motive to commit suicide. She stated that David did have mysterious systems three years before his death, but that even the doctor that diagnosed David of Alzheimer's wasn't quite sure of that diagnosis. Darinka also stated that when she performed David's autopsy that she found no indication of Alzheimer's either. If he would have had hat horrible disease, then there would have been protein fragments on the brain.
Detective Sergeant Perry Moyers he said that was obligated to speak for the victim. He testified that there were no fingerprints found on the murder weapon that was found in the bed next to David. He did say that there was gunshot residue found on David's hands and that Raynella's hands tested negative.
Moyers said that the crime scene appeared to have been staged. He said that there were three shots: one in the bed, one in the headboard and one in David's head. Moyers also stated that he found it strange that David was tucked in nice and cozy with a pillow in between his head and shoulder. And that Raynella was the only one who knew that David slept in the nude with a pillow between his legs. Moyers then testified that the way the folds were in the covers that David's arm and been tucked under the covers before the final shot. He also talked about the breakfast tray that Raynella had claimed that she had brought to David before she left home that morning, was on the nightstand by David untouched and not spattered with his blood. The glass of milk had no lip marks and no rings of previous levels of milk.
Moyers then went on to read entries from Raynella's calendar. He said that Katie's departure from the home at 8:15 a.m. narrowed down the time of death. He also said that the dryer was running when the deputies arrived on scene.
T.B.I. firearms expert Don Carmen testified that of the three shots fired in David's bedroom, the second shot was the deadly shot. The first shot went into the wall and the third into the floor through the mattress.
Special Prosecutor Richard Fisher announced, "A dead man could not have pulled that trigger for a third time."
On March 5th, 2009, prosecutors rested. Bell asked for a directed verdict of acquittal. Judge Richard Baumgartner ruled that the state has presented enough evidence for the trial to continue.
Dr. Ronald Bryan took the stand for the defense. He said that the first time David was brought to his office he tested David in order to try to find the route of his confusion but failed. He also said that Raynella always seemed supportive of David and a good caretaker although little things would set him off.
By 2003 Dr. Bryan said that David was exhibiting signs of depression and mood swings. He also said that David seemed to know that he needed help, but just didn't want to deal with it.
When cross examined the Dr. Bryan talked about the notations that he had made about David saying that he thought Raynella was trying to kill him. He also said that almost all of the information about David's health and symptoms.
He also talked about the tests results from January of 2000 that revealed anti-anxiety medication in David's bloodstream, even though none was prescribed to him.
Raynella's youngest daughter, Katie took the stand next. She said that David's final days were haunted by depression. She claimed that he didn't work out like he did before and that he would just stay in bed all day.
Katie also said that her mother could never kill anyone.
Glenn Farr was a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Tennesse. He testified that the drugs in David's system would have made him a little groggy, but not incapacitated. Glenn also said that those drugs could have caused suicidal thoughts.
On March 9th, were closing the arguments.
The defense pointed to the bible that had been left open to a verse that Bell said was proof that David was unhinged, depressed and suicidal. He said that Raynella wouldn't and couldn't kill David because he was her best friend.
The prosecution said that there were three shots because Raynella closed her eyes with the first one and missed. The second shot was the one she killed David with. The third shot is when she placed the gun in David's hand and then fired into the mattress in order to get the gunshot residue on the hand.
The prosecution also drew attention to Raynella's clothing that did not have one spec of blood. They alleged that Raynella should have had some on her from touching David if she innocently found him dead.
March 10th, the jury of eight men and four women deliberated some five hours without reaching a verdict.
On March 12th, 2009, and after hours of jury deliberation, with a11-to-one to convict, and the judge declared a hung jury. The prosecution announced to the media their intention to try the case again. Raynella declared that she was pleased with the outcome and that David's soul could be at peace. When Cindy heard what Raynella said about her father, she thought of his ashes in her shop and wondered if David's soul would ever be at peace. She was not happy with the verdict, but she was glad that they were going to try the case again. Steve and his wife were upset that they would have to keep living in fear of Raynella.
On January 19th, 2010, Raynella went on trial second time for David's murder with special prosecutor Richard Fisher at the helm. Richard started his opening remarks by playing the 9-1-1 call which he said was planned in advance. That Raynella wanted the murder to look like a suicide. He also argued that since the ammunition of the second shot was different that that was the fatal shot. He then said that David couldn't have defended himself because Raynella had given him a cocktail of drugs that would have been given to a patient before surgery. Richard said that Raynella wanted David helpless so she could kill him. Richard then theorized that Raynella missed with the first shot and with the second one she fired she killed David. She then put the gun in David's hand and fired the gun into the mattress because Raynella knew that David would have to be found with gunshot residue on his hands in order for it to be believable that he committed suicide.
Raynella's lawyer, Bell, insinuated that the prosecution was hiding something since the full 9-1-1 call wasn't played. He went on to play the full call, but it was edited, and the jury heard the voice of a defense investigator that wasn't at the house at the time of the murder. The judge explained to the jury the error.
Bell called the case against Raynella absurd since there had been no blood and no gunshot residue on her at the crime scene. Bell stated that David's death had to have been a suicide and if it wasn't that someone else was responsible, not Raynella.
The prosecution's first witness was Sgt. Robert D. Lee. He described finding David's body on the day he died. The defense claimed that there wasn't control of the crime scene. Lee did agree at one point that there was a group of people that had congregated at the barn.
Sgt. Amburn was next to take the stand. He was one of the first two people on the crime scene. He testified how when he arrived, he had found Raynella on the ground in the yard.
On cross examination, the defense pressed Amburn about him not checking for fingerprints on the lamp nor the phone that was by David's bed. The defense claimed that there could have been someone else in the room when David was killed. Amburn stated that there had been no indications of forced entry at the crime scene. The defense then asked Amburn if he had checked all the windows and doors at the scene to make sure they were locked. Amburn then reiterated that there had been no signs of forced entry at the scene. Again, the defense asked Amburn if he had checked all the windows and doors to see if they were locked. Amburn this time answered with a no.
Terry Lee, supervisor of the Knox County Sheriff's unit testified that David's fingerprints were not found on the revolver. When cross-examined, he was asked if there was any forensics evidence linking Raynella to the gun or the or the ammunition. Terry and answered that there were no usable prints found on the gun and the TBI wasn't asked to do a more advanced test for fingerprints.
Witness Aaron Allen was a evidence technician. One of the pictures he presented to the jury was that of the bible on David's sink open to Pslam 69.
"Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God."
The defense used this photo to suggest that it was evidence that David committed suicide.
Allen the played the video that he shot of the crime scene on the morning of David's death. In the video, the jury could see extreme closeups of David's head and his blood soaked pillow.
Jeff Cruz, a scientist from TBI, took the stand again. He told the jury that the blood and urine samples, taken after death, showed four drugs that had not been prescribed to David found in his system.
Knox County deputy medical examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan took the stand next. She explained that the muzzle of the gun had farther away than what would be typically in a suicide when the gun was fired. She also stated that with the combination of drugs that had been found in David's system, it would be impossible for him to have killed himself. And, since the shot was above his left eye, David wouldn't have been able to see the muzzle of the gun since that was his blind eye. Polchan said that his brain stem was severed by that shot above his eye and that an involuntary movement could not have been responsible for the third shot.
TBI analyst, Laura Hodge, explained to the jury that Raynella didn't have gunshot residue on her hands at the scene, but David did. It was found mostly on the back of his left hand. She also explained that you could still fire a gun and not have any gunshot residue on your hand because it could disappear after a simple washing. She added that the residue being present does not necessarily mean that the person fired the gun either, just that the person was close to the gun when it was fired.
The jury heard the information about how Raynella had made arraignments for her and David's cremation without David being present. The past civil documents and lawsuits between Cindy and Raynella had also been entered into evidence. The purpose of entering the documents into evidence was to draw attention to the fact that Raynella had accused Cindy of murdering David thus showing that Raynella thought it was a murder and not a suicide.
Cindy took the stand. The prosecution asked her whether she thought that Raynella killed David or had him killed. Cindy said that yes she felt like Raynella "did it." On cross examination Cindy was asked who would benefit most financial if she had one the case from the lawsuit. She answered "the lawyers."
T.B.I. firearms expert Don Carmen used large illustrations to demonstrate that of the three shots, the third shot was fired after the fatal shot that had killed David instantly. The third empty cartridge case was a Winchester western brand. It was found directly under the hammer of the gun, which indicated that it was the last shot fired. Carmen's opinion was that Raynella had missed with the first shot, killed David with the second one, and then fired the third shot to make sure there would be some gunshot residue found on David's hand.
The defense asked for an acquittal on the basis that the state didn't provide enough evidence for the jury to even consider the case. The judge denied the acquittal.
Maggie took the stand for the defense. She talked about how difficult it was to lose her father and her brother when she was little. This made it possible for the prosecution to talk about Ed Dossett's death, which they did. Maggie was asked how her dad died. Maggie said that she didn't know.
It was brought up when another witness was on the stand about Raynella not wearing the mask she was supposed to wear while bringing David's mother flowers at the hospital on the day of David's murder. According to that same witness, Raynell did wear the mask a few days later.
There was a witness who testified that Raynella had brought medicine to school for Maggie on the day of David's death. Afterwards, a nurse who had worked with Raynella took the stand. That nurse was asked if, as a nurse, she would know how to mix up the medications, that had been found in David's system, to subdue someone. The nurse answered yes.
One of the pieces of evidence that was new to this trial was a letter that the prosecution discovered from Raynella to David's lawyers back in 1999. Unbeknownst to Raynella, David had hired a title firm to research the value of their property. Raynella found out a month later and wrote an angry letter to the lawyers. The prosecution claimed that this was proof that there were problems in their marriage and that Raynell had been trying to get rid of David for quite a while.
During closing arguments, the defense said that it was a crime that David had died, but that Raynella had not been home at the time. The jury was also reminded that Raynella had willingly let law enforcement search her home and submitted to a gunshot residue test.
The prosecution reminded the jury that in the 9-1-1 call that Raynella had placed, she said that David had committed suicide. That since Raynella was a nurse that she was capable of preforming CPR or some kind of medical aid and should have been covered in David's blood, but not one spec was found on her person.
After over 9 hours of deliberation, Raynella was found guilty of David's murder, and she was automatically issued a life sentence. She would be eligible for parole in 2070. Immediately following her conviction, the charges relating to her Ed Dossett's death were dropped.
Cindy said that finally her dad could rest in peace. She said that David was a good person, a good daddy, a good grandfather. "He loved us, and we loved him." He loved his job, loved working out and cared about and loved people.
"If tolling bell I ask the cause.
'A soul has gone to God,'
I'm answered in a lonesome tone;
Is heaven then so sad?
That bells should joyful ring to tell
A soul had gone to heaven,
Would seem to me the proper way
A good news should be given."
David's grandson, 19-year-old Tyler, gently placed a white rectangular box with a green diamond design on it in the ground. That box contained his grandfather's ashes.
Two months after Raynella's conviction, a federal judge unsealed an investigation that had been going on of Raynella's attorney, James Bell, which had been going on in secret through Raynella's second trial. The investigation was about Bell making up a meeting with a client to get out of a case in federal court. Which he was found guilty of doing. Bell had to pay a fine and go through ethics training. This incident could show that he was distracted during Raynella's second trial and that she didn't get the proper defense she should have.
In 2013, Raynella's appeal of her conviction was denied.
In July 2015, Raynella had new lawyers and they filed a petition for post-conviction relief seeking a new trial. The petition claimed that medical records that were not introduced at the trial showed that David had been diagnosed with dementia in 2002 and that despite being prescribed medications to counter act the effects, he was getting worse.
The petition also claimed that after Raynella's conviction, Steve Robinson, who had been a sheriff's deputy at the time of David's death, told a defense investigator that when he arrived at David’s home after the body was discovered, he saw a police officer walk out of the house with the gun that had killed David. This allegedly occurred prior to the arrival of crime scene technicians. Robinson repeated gave a sworn affidavit if this occurrence. Robinson's account called into question the prosecution claim at trial that the gun had been placed on the bed in a way that looked staged. However, the petition also stated that Robinson later recanted his statement.
Randall Brookshire was a paramedic who was one of the first responders on the scene of David's murder. He backed up Robinson's versions of events that happened that day. He gave a sworn statement that before any crime scene technicians were on the scene, he saw an officer holding a revolver in his hand and heard another officer say that the weapon had been secured.
Another thing that the defense added in the petition was the findings of Dr. Gregory Davis, a professor of pathology at the University of Kentucky. He examined Polchan’s reports of David's autopsy and the toxicology results. Gregory came to the conclusion that the levels if of the drugs found in David's blood were within the therapeutic range.
The petition also said that the trial judge, Richard Baumgartner, had been under the influence of pain medication during the trial, and that he had denied the defense motion for a new trial when he knew he was under investigation by the TBI. He had stepped down from the bench on January 28, 2011, the same day he denied the motion for a new trial. He was later convicted on state and federal charges relating for using OxyContin and buying it from felon, Christopher Lee Gibson, who on probation in his court. He would buy 10-20 pills as often as two to three times a week.
The petition noted that, during the time of Raynella’s second trial, Baumgartner was prescribed at least 150 OxyContin pills by a single physician. This was at a time when he was getting more of the same pills from dealers and sometimes even from courthouse staff. One of the other people he bought pills from was Deena Castleman, a participant of the Drug Court program he fostered. She came to the judge in May 2009 and asked for help in finding a job. He forced her to become his mistress and made her get him OxyContin.
The petition noted that, during the time of Raynella’s second trial, Baumgartner was prescribed at least 150 OxyContin pills by a single physician. This was at a time when he was getting more of the same pills from dealers and sometimes even from courthouse staff. One of the other people he bought pills from was Deena Castleman, a participant of the Drug Court program he fostered. She came to the judge in May 2009 and asked for help in finding a job. He forced her to become his mistress and made her get him OxyContin.
In May 2016, Senior Judge Paul Summers granted Raynella a new trial on the ground that Baumgartner was impaired during her trial. Summers also said that Raynella was deprived of a constitutionally fair trial and released her on a $50,000 bond. The attorney general decided not to challenge Summers' ruling and new prosecutors were brought in for the third trial.
Summers came to the prosecution and told them that he knew Raynella and Ed. He had attended law school with Ed and that they had been prosecutors together. He also had seen Raynella and different functions and had gone to Ed's funeral. The prosecutors decided that Summers could be unbiased when it came to the case and so they didn't challenge him being the judge. They also didn't challenge Summers when he said that the case was going to be tried in Knox County.
Like in the previous two trials, the gun that killed David played a big role in aiding the prosecution into proving that David's death was a murder rather than a suicide. The gun was a Colt .38 Police Special revolver. T.B.I. firearms expert Don Carmen testified once again. He said it was an old firearm, but pretty effective. The three fired rounds have small indentations in the center of the casings, while the unfired ones do not. And when fired, the gun goes clockwise into the next chamber and that tells the order of the bullets fired. The first two cartridges are from two silver Remington bullets while the third was a gold Winchester. Fragments of the silver bullets were found in the wall and in David's head and the gold was found in the mattress.
Knox County deputy medical examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan had performed David's autopsy. She testified in all three trials that the bullet that went into his head, severed David's spinal cord instantly killing him. So, if the third shot was into the mattress, there was no way that David could have fired it. Someone else had to have been there with David and fired the last shot.
The defense questioned Don Carmen about the order of the bullets. They asked him if he knew for certain if the gun was open or if the cartridges had been manipulated or not. Carmen answered no, that he didn't know for sure. The defense then said that if it was not known for sure whether the gun had been tampered with, then the order of the bullets fired could not be assured.
According to investigators, blood splatter on the wall behind David's bed showed that he had to have been raised about one foot above the mattress. The prosecution alleged that the only way for this to have happened is for Raynella to have been standing by the bed and missed the first shot. The defense had their own views on the blood splatter. They said that it was quite possible that David killed himself and that multiple shot suicides not common, but they do happen.
Forensic expert, Celia Hartnett took the stand for the defense. She showed how she thought it was possible that David could have shot himself all 3 times
The prosecution also touched base on the phone call that Raynella had made to Cindy the morning of David's death. That was the first and only time Raynella had ever called Cindy at the barber shop. The prosecution claimed that that phone call was all part of Raynella's elaborate plan to create an alibi so she could get away with murder.
The prosecution also pointed the mistake that Raynella had made in the timeline for her alibi. Raynella had said she put David's breakfast by the bed and left the house at 9:30 a.m. Twenty minutes later, she called Cindy and asked her if she'd seen or heard from David because he hadn't touched his breakfast and he wasn't home. The prosecution drew attention to the fact that Raynella wouldn't have had a reason to ask if David had worked out that day unless she was home and that she wouldn't have talked about the fact that David hadn't eaten breakfast unless she knew he was dead.
Before the jury went off for deliberation, the defense made a routine request that is seldom ever granted, to throw out the trial for lack of evidence. The judge granted the request for acquittal. He said that even though the state produced enough evidence to point to David's death as a homicide, they had failed to meet their burden that Raynella was the killer. And since the judge made his ruling before the jury deliberated on the matter, the prosecution could not make an appeal.
The judge's ruling baffled the jurors, the prosecution and most of all Cindy.
Raynella went back to living free and clear on her ranch.
The prosecution had a decision to make regarding Ed Dossett's death and whether or not that would try once again to take Raynella to court.
On a side note, a motion filed in Bradley County Criminal Court in 2021 accused, Steve Crump, the prosecuting district attorney in Raynella Dossett Leath's third trial who didn't object to the judge personally knowing Raynella and Ed Dossett, of suppressing evidence in the 2019 murder trial of Miranda Cheatham.
Miranda was convicted of second-degree murder of her husband, James and sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 2021, Miranda Cheatham sought acquittal, or at least a new trial, on the grounds of her defense team obtaining a secretly recorded conversation from 2017, between James' half-brother, John and James’ sister Dana.
In the recording, John questioned Dana about her relationship with Crump. She stated that she had an affair with Crump four years prior when he was her lawyer. She continued by saying she threatened to tell Crump’s wife. About their affair if he didn’t bring charges against Miranda Cheatham for killing her brother James. She said she had threatened to tell Crump’s wife about the affair if he didn’t bring charges against Miranda for killing James.
Dana went on to claim that she had performed massages for Crump. She also said he had another affair with a woman named Caryn Bledsoe, and that there was a rumor of an affair with a woman in Nashville.
She also alleged that Crump screwed up a case he had been working with her on and that he gave her $2,000 to hire another lawyer in 2012.
On May 31st, 2017, the recording had been submitted to Detective Daniel Gibbs, lead detective in the murder investigation, but it did not make it as evidence in the 2019 trial.
Another motion was made by Miranda's defense team, to disqualify Crump’s office from further handling this case. In the motion the defense accused Crump of intentionally suppressing evidence of his own wrong doing by withholding the recording.
It also states that "a statement by the Cleveland Police Department directly refutes Mr. Crump’s claims. Cleveland Police Department spokesman Sgt. Evie West said that as soon as investigators were made aware of the recording, its existence and content were discussed with Crump. Sgt. West stated that “as with all investigations, our protocol is to submit all materials of the case to the District Attorney’s Office and it is at their discretion as to what appropriate action needs to be take based on relevance and evidentiary value in prosecution.”
The defense claims that Crump suppressing the evidence "casts serious doubts on the validity and honesty of the prosecution in this case."
Also, Crump had a Title company that prepared quit claim deeds for Dana in December of 2018 and June of 2020, during which time he would have had full knowledge that Dana was involved in the recording intended to blackmail him.
