Woman Faces Retrial On Charges Of Poisoning Son's Girlfriend

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - An elderly Pennsylvania woman is facing a retrial next year on charges that she poisoned her son's girlfriend with antifreeze, leaving her near death.

A Luzerne County judge scheduled a trial date of March 19 for 85-year-old Helen Galli, who is charged with aggravated assault.

Galli was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 5½ to 12 years. But a judge ruled that Galli's attorney was ineffective for not objecting to testimony that she told her son's girlfriend to consume the antifreeze-laced drink.

Prosecutors appealed the decision, calling the defense strategy a judgment call, but a three-judge Superior Court panel upheld it in June.

Prosecutors said Galli intentionally poisoned the woman in 2010 out of jealousy, while the defense argued that the victim poisoned herself.

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