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Widow Sues DC Agency Over Escapee's Hatchet Attack

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee woman is suing the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections and a halfway house over an escapee who's accused of killing her husband.

News outlets report Lana Paavola accuses them of negligence in their handling of 36-year-old Domenic Micheli, who had been arrested on charges of trespassing at the White House that April.

Authorities said Micheli later escaped from a halfway house and went to Tennessee, where he used a hatchet and a meat cleaver to kill his former boss, Paavola's husband, Joel.

Micheli is charged with murder and aggravated assault in the June 4 slaying.

The lawsuit says the corrections department and halfway house did not immediately report the escape, and says authorities also failed to use Micheli's social media posts to track him down before the slaying.

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