ATLANTA — An elderly woman convicted of killing her 85-year-old ex-boyfriend because she thought he was seeing another woman was granted a new trial Friday, two years after she was sentenced to life in prison.
A jury convicted Lena Driskell of killing Herman Winslow in 2005 at an assisted living home, but her new attorneys argued that her defense team was ineffective.
A Fulton County Superior Court judge agreed, saying her previous lawyers didn’t object to key testimony and didn’t press for a charge of manslaughter, which carries a lesser sentence.
Police said Driskell, 78, was enraged that her relationship with Winslow had ended and that he was seeing another woman. Dressed in a hairnet, bathrobe and slippers, she confronted Winslow with an antique handgun and fired up to four times, prosecutors said.
“I did it and I’d do it again!” Driskell was quoted as yelling as officers arrived at the home.
At her 2006 trial, Driskell’s attorneys acknowledged she shot Winslow, but argued that she was not guilty on grounds of insanity. They contended that she snapped because she thought Winslow had been cheating on her when, in fact, he was likely taking a nap.
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