Homicide

Nevada prosecutor: No retrial for woman freed after 30 years in 1976 murder based on new DNA.

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2014 file photo, Cathy Woods appears in Washoe District court in Reno, Nev. Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks plans to announce Friday, March 6, 2015, whether he intends to go forward with the retrial of Woods, who was ordered set free last year after spending more than 30 years in prison for a murder she may not have committed. New DNA evidence recovered from the 1976 crime scene on the edge of the UNR campus matches that of a former Oregon inmate recently extradited to California to face murder charges in a string of killings in the San Francisco Bay Area during the same period when Cathy Woods allegedly slit Michelle Mitchell’s throat in Reno. (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron, File) NO SALES; NEVADA APPEAL OUT; SOUTH RENO WEEKLY OUT (The Associated Press)

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks speaks during a press conference at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center in Reno, Nev. on Friday, March 6, 2015. Prosecutors are dropping the case against a Nevada woman who spent more than 30 years in prison for a 1976 murder before a judge ordered a new trial based on recently discovered DNA evidence, the district attorney said Friday. (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron) NO SALES; NEVADA APPEAL OUT; SOUTH RENO WEEKLY OUT MBO (The Associated Press)

A Nevada prosecutor says he's dropping the case against a woman who spent more than 30 years in prison for a 1976 murder before a judge ordered a new trial based on recently discovered DNA evidence.

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks said Friday there will be no retrial of Cathy Woods in the fatal stabbing of Michelle Mitchell on the edge of the University of Nevada, Reno.

A judge threw out the conviction in September after new DNA evidence linked the Reno crime scene to an Oregon inmate who now faces murder charges in California in a string of killings about the same time.

Judge Patrick Flanagan ordered the 64-year-old Woods to appear at a retrial July 13. But Hicks says he's filing a motion to dismiss the case.