The capital murder case against Monica Melissa Patterson is being returned to Hidalgo County amid claims that new medical evidence may show she is innocent. The McAllen Monitor reports the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has sent the case back to the trial court to examine evidence that indicates the victim may have died of a heart attack, not by suffocation. Patterson was convicted of capital murder in 2017. Jurors agreed with prosecutors that Patterson hired a man to kill 96-year-old Martin Knell as part of a scheme to get access to Knell’s money. Patterson is currently serving a sentence of life with no parole at the state women’s prison in Gatesville.

Source: ABC News July 28, 2022 16:11 UTC