LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A jury of 12 will spend the pre-holiday week deciding whether a Lexington woman will be found guilty of killing her husband and setting her home on fire five years ago.
The murder trial for 74-year-old Carol Ann Hignite began on Monday. She is charged with murder, knowingly neglecting an elderly person, and third-degree arson after the death of her husband, Leon Dewayne Hignite.
Leon Hignite was admitted in October 2017 to a Level 1 trauma center for numerous injuries, including more than 30 cuts and bruises on his head. He later died. His cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma to the head.
On Monday, prosecutors for the commonwealth argued Carol Ann Hignite used a hammer to assault her husband, did not call an ambulance for help for days, and then set her home on fire.
Her defense argued that Leon Hignite died as a result of hitting his head on the bathroom sink and had multiple health issues.
Day 1:
Prosecutors for the commonwealth, Mary Tobin and Kathryn Webster, set up their argument that Hignite violated her vows as a wife, brutally assaulting her husband with a hammer, leaving him for dead, and then setting the house on fire.
Hignite waited two days after she told police her husband fell to call an ambulance.
They presented witnesses who spoke to the more than thirty cuts and bruises on Leon Hignite's head. Specifically, the medical examiner who conducted his autopsy and confirmed his cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Defense attorneys, Tucker Richardson and Russ Baldani, argued that Carol Ann loved her husband and that her only crime was waiting to call for help for a man who was elderly and frail. They described him as blind, partially deaf, and a free bleeder who refused to go to the doctor.
Their cross-examination challenged the police’s gathering of evidence as incomplete and missing factors that Carol Ann deemed important, like a Styrofoam cup with a spoon in it, which they say was used to feed ice slivers to Leon.
Day 2:
The jury had a full day, starting off at the home where the alleged crime happened and then going into the courtroom where they heard testimony from several people about the alleged murder weapon — a claw hammer.
Prosecutors brought the hammer into the courtroom where Megan May, with the Kentucky Central Forensic Lab, described the results of DNA and blood testing. The hammer was positive for blood.
Prosecutors also presented the door to the bathroom Carol Ann said Leon fell in. Detective Lucas Young said the door appeared to have hammer marks on the interior side.
Young also testified to seeing blood all over the house, on walls and a ceiling.
The defense called attention to the serological testing, which showed presumptive positive for blood correct. He emphasized to the jury that presumptive did not mean confirmed and could be the result of human blood, animal blood, potatoes and even copper.
Video of the initial interview with Carol Ann showed her calmly explaining to police what she felt happened.
Day 3:
Prosecutors focused on the fire and tried to establish Carol Ann Hignite as the person responsible for setting it.
Former fire investigator Christopher O’Brien told jurors that the cause of the fire was determined to be a handheld source and not a faulty electrical outlet or box fan that was brought into the courtroom.
Who lit it? They say Carol Ann did.
But the defense called attention to a key point that a lighter, which was believed to be a possible ignition source for the fire, did not have Hignite's fingerprints on them.
Jurors also spent a lot of their time today listening to the words of Carol Ann.
Prosecutors played the entire clip of her interview with Lexington police detectives after they tried to serve a warrant at her home and had to evacuate because of a fire. Carol Ann vehemently denied any malicious intent or wrongdoing but said that Leon told her to “shoot him.”
The defense team was then given the opportunity to call witnesses. Forensic engineer Gary Woodolf, an electrical expert, testified that the box fan in the basement and electrical wire from an outlet hanging from the ceiling could not be ruled out as the cause of the fire.
Russ Baldani also called Carol Ann’s son Jason Hignite to the stand. He asked about his father’s medical history and his parents' relationship.
However, Jason went on to tell prosecutors he did have concerns about his mother’s allegations that his father was always falling.
“Never saw him fall once,” said Jason. “He always had cuts or bruises or scratches.”
What's Next
Court resumes on Thursday for what is expected to be the final day of the trial. Once the defense gets through all of their witnesses, both sides will deliver a closing statement to the jury. The jury is also expected to break to deliberate on Thursday. They'll decide whether Carol Ann is guilty on all counts, one, or none.
She faces decades in prison if found guilty on all counts.
