Dacula Drug Haze Killing--an Acquittal

Kent Alexander, a former minor league pitcher in the Chicago Cubs organization died of knife wounds on December 8, 2007.  Monday a Gwinnet County, Georgia jury after a 3 hour deliberation, acquitted his widow, Laurie of the charges she murdered her husband. 

The report at the Atlanta Journal Constitution is astounding.  The back story is even more amazing.  It is cliche` to say that truth is stranger than fiction, here's the evidence for the adage. 

This is a blawg, not a crime blog, but every once you come across a crime story that has everything, in this case a jury that may have thought that Kent Alexander might have needed a little stabbing.  Judge for yourself: 

"The marriage of Laurie and Kent Alexander was in tatters – rocked by adultery, lies, debt, prescription drug addiction and alcoholism. It all came to a head on Dec. 8, 2007, when 44-year-old Kent Alexander, a former Chicago Cubs minor league baseball pitcher, was found dead of a knife wound on his kitchen floor. Laurie Alexander, 47, is on trial for murder in Gwinnett County this week, accused of stabbing her husband in the abdomen after she caught him sending text messages to a married lover.

'This case is about a marriage that was in turmoil,' Assistant District Attorney Rich Vandever told the jury during his opening statements Tuesday.

Alexander told police she took two prescription anti-anxiety pills after arguing with her husband and went to bed. She said she remembered nothing until she came downstairs to find her husband dead on the floor the following morning.  No one disputes that Kent Alexander's life was spiraling out of control. He recently had been fired from his job as a medical recruiter after a supervisor discovered he was drinking on the clock and swapping prescription pills with co-workers. Defense attorneys say he drank as much as a liter and a half of vodka every other day.  He had a blood alcohol level of .341 -- over four times the legal limit to drink and drive -- - when he died, according to prosecutors. His wife also was heavily medicated much of the time, having suffered injuries in a car wreck about a year prior to the alleged slaying and having undergone two recent heart surgeries.  Defense attorney Jeffrey Sliz said there are many questions surrounding Kent Alexander's death. It could have been a drunken accident, a suicide or a case of self-defense, but it was not a murder, Sliz told the jury.  'My client is not guilty of any of these offenses,' Sliz said."
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This case came with built in "reasonable doubt."