Kentucky court overturns woman’s murder conviction

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A northeast Kentucky woman convicted of killing her husband won a new trial after the state Supreme Court concluded that prosecutors improperly played a tape of the defendant remaining silent when asked questions by a detective.

The divided court concluded on Thursday that Pamela Bartley’s silence in the face of accusatory questions was improperly used as an indicator of her guilt. Justice Mary Noble also wrote for the majority that guns found in the Bartley house, but not definitively linked to the slaying of Carl Bartley could not be introduced at a retrial.

Justice Bill Cunningham and Justice Will T. Scott dissented, saying "the proof was overwhelming" in the case.

A Rowan County jury convicted Pamela Bartley of shooting her husband in the back of the head in 2007.

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