Trial Delayed Til Next Year In Elderly Woman's Death
PONTIAC (AP) - A judge has postponed till January the trial of two ex-convicts in the home invasion and knife-slaying of an 80-year-old Royal Oak woman.
Forty-nine-year-old Alan Wood and 40-year-old Tonia Watson are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Nancy Dailey, who was found tied up in her home on Nov. 20, 2011.
Authorities say the parolees befriended Dailey and did yard work for her, then robbed her and slit her throat.
Their trial was supposed to start Aug. 24 in Oakland County Circuit Court. But on Thursday, Judge Colleen O'Brien granted a defense lawyer's request for more time to review and challenge DNA evidence. A hearing on the DNA evidence is set for Sept. 27-28.
Separate juries will try the pair. Jury selection is to start Jan. 7.
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