A pretrial hearing that briefly began Thursday to discuss the legal issues that led Circuit Judge Cynthia Raccuglia to declare a mistrial last month in the murder-for-hire case of an Ottawa woman was postponed until Monday, June 21 — the date her new trial is scheduled to begin.
Attorney teams from both the prosecution and defense will argue their positions on a possible motive — the singular issue that shut down a jury trial only minutes after it began on May 11 — before the expected start of jury selection in Raccuglia's courtroom next week.
Christina D. Dent is charged with solicitation of murder for an alleged attempt to hire a hitman to kill her husband, Jacob, last June.
At issue are alleged and unproven molestation accusations made by Dent against her husband as well as details of her possible extramarital affairs during their marriage.
County prosecutor Matt Kidder has previously argued both issues were "clearly admissible" as evidence to the jury.
Monday, Raccuglia is expected to hear details of both the defense's and prosecution's opening statements and presentations to rule accordingly as to what will or will not be admitted before the seated panel to prevent any chance of another mistrial. Following that hearing, jury selection should begin.
Dent faces up to 40 years in prison with no possibility of probation if convicted.