NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The fourth trial of Cara Rintala will begin Wednesday in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton after jury selection finished on Tuesday.
Rintala is charged with first-degree murder for the death of her wife Anna-Marie Cochrane Rintala.
Rintala found her wife unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs of the couple’s Granby home on March 29, 2010. When first responders arrived, it was determined that Annamarie was dead. Cara, Annamarie’s body and the floor near the bottom of the stairs were all found to be covered in paint.
Rintala has gone through three trials in 2013, 2014 and 2016. The first two trials resulted in mistrials after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. In the 2016 trial, Rintala was convicted by a jury but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned that conviction in September 2017. The court said the trial judge had mistakenly allowed expert testimony regarding paint drying.
She was convicted of first-degree murder at her third trial, but the state’s highest court overturned that guilty verdict. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
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