David Leath and Ed Dossett had been childhood friends. David Leath married Dossett's widow about six months after Ed Dossett died in what was then ruled an agricultural accident, as they said he was trampled by cattle. The level of morphine in Dossett's body was more than double the expected therapeutic level the injuries to his body were "not sufficient to be the cause of death."

That ruling was changed to murder and, although Raynella is not on trial for the murder of her first husband, she is charged with that murder.

In 1995, Raynella Dossett-Leath was charged with attempted murder. She was accused of firing several shots at Steve Walker inside her barn. Investigators believe she argued with Walker over a child who may have been her first husband's illegitimate son. She was never convicted in that case.

There has been a fight over the family farm. David Leath's daughter from a previous marriage, Cynthia Leath-Wilkerson, is suing because she believes her step-mother killed her father and shouldn't receive anything from his estate.

In court documents Wilkerson states, "She comes into the court with the most unclean of hands, bloody hands, which should bar her from having anything to do with the estate of her victim."

The courts nullified Leath's missing will and awarded David Leath's daughter, by a previous marriage, Cindy Leath Wilkerson, is entitled to half of her father's probate estate, which in this case includes personal property, cash and vehicles. About 180 acres of land is at stake in a separate legal action still pending in Knox County Circuit Court.

During opening statements Monday, special prosecutor Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire told jurors Dossett-Leath planned and executed the killing of her husband before staging it to look like a suicide. Leath was shot once in the forehead in the bedroom of the couple’s home.

The defendant’s attorney, James Bell, told jurors that Dossett-Leath would not and could not kill Leath, and that the physical evidence does not support the state’s case.

Eight women and six men were selected as jurors for this case, which is expected to last about two weeks.