In September 1987, car dealer Bill Mowbray shot himself in his bed, while his wife, Susie Mowbray, was lying next to him. Despite the fact that Bill had been threatening to commit suicide for months over financial troubles, the police zeroed in on Susie as the culprit and charged her with first-degree murder. At her trial, detectives claimed that the blood spatter indicated that Susie shot her husband, and in June 1988, Susie was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 1996, Susie was granted a new trial after it was revealed that the prosecution suppressed a report from blood spatter expert Herbert MacDonnell, who concluded that the police’s luminol staining procedure was unreliable and that no blood spatter was found on Susie’s nightgown. The police even admitted at a hearing that there was no scientific support for their case. In January 1998, a jury acquitted Susie of the charges.
