Convicted murderer’s appeal denied
A Fayette County judge has denied a petition for a new trial for a woman convicted of fatally shooting her husband in 2003, having determined that her trial counsel was not ineffective.
Debra Payne, 53, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, although she maintained that her husband’s death was a suicide.
At trial, forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht refuted that theory, testifying that the gun was fired several inches away from the victim’s head and was unlikely a suicide. In her appeal, Payne claimed her trial attorney, Samuel J. Davis, should have brought up fraud and theft charges that were pending against Wecht in order to impeach his credibility.
Judge Steve P. Leskinen disagreed with that argument in his opinion and order, noting that Payne’s trial was held in June 2005, and Wecht was not indicted until January 2006. Leskinen also determined that Davis had a reasonable basis for choosing not to cross-examine Wecht “about indictments that had yet to be issued,” because Davis reasoned that undermining Wecht’s credibility could be detrimental to Payne’s case.
Payne also claimed in her appeal that Davis provided ineffective counsel because he failed to elicit testimony that Payne and her husband slept in different rooms because he snored rather than because there was animosity toward him.
At the January hearing, Davis’ co-counsel, Melinda Dellarose, explained that the attorneys were concerned that Payne’s testimony about the sleeping arrangements could have opened to the door to other potentially damaging evidence.
“On that basis, counsel’s decision was not ineffective,” Leskinen wrote.