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Jun 4, 2009 3:05 pm US/Eastern
Man Accused In Wife's Death 30 Years Ago In Court
(KDKA)
A man accused of murdering his wife almost 30 years ago was in a Somerset County court today for a preliminary hearing.
John Dawson, 58, is charged with beating his then 30-year-old wife Kathleen with a blackjack then setting her car on fire to make it look like a tragic accident.
The alleged murder happened on a rural road when Kathleen Dawson was headed home from working a night shift at Windber Hospital.
Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler says new witness accounts will tie John Dawson to the murder.
He says investigators are also waiting on the results of DNA tests that were not available at the time of the murder that they hope will link Dawson to the alleged murder weapon.
Prosecutors also presented witnesses who testified that Kathleen Dawson took a different route home from work the night of the murder. They say it took her on rural roads so that she could pick up glue from a friend's house that would be used to fix a glass door.
Prosecutors allege that John Dawson knew his wife's plans to use the alternate rural route.
Defense attorney Joe Policicchio today tried to discredit witnesses whose testimony differed from what was in original police reports 28 years ago.
He says the new witnesses had what he calls "epiphanies" and that their new recollections are not valid. He says this is a case based largely on circumstantial evidence.
He says if the charges are held for court, his client will plead not guilty.
John Dawson was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, and was extradited back to Pennsylvania to face the charges.
He's being held in the Somerset County Jail without bond.
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