Brownsville woman gets new trial in 2009 slaying
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UNIONTOWN (AP) – An appeals court has granted a new trial for a Western Pennsylvania woman who had been serving a 20- to 40-year sentence in the stabbing death of her boyfriend four years ago.
The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard says the state Superior Court on Tuesday vacated the third-degree murder conviction of 36-year-old Dayna McMaster of Brownsville.
McMaster was convicted in Fayette County of killing Clarence Blair III with a hunting knife in June 2009 at a remote location near a gas well in Redstone Township.
She said she was a battered woman acting in self-defense who had been repeatedly abused by Blair during their five-year relationship.
In her appeal, McMaster said her trial attorney should have called witnesses to testify about injuries from the alleged abuse, and the appeals court agreed.