RENO, Nev. (AP) - A 64-year-old Nevada woman who is trying to overturn her murder conviction after spending more than 30 years in prison will have to remain behind bars for at least three more months.
Washoe District Court Judge Patrick Flanagan granted a request by prosecutors on Wednesday to postpone Cathy Woods’ status hearing for 90 days so they have more time to examine new evidence.
Woods has been convicted twice of killing Michelle Mitchell, a 19-year-old nursing student at the University of Nevada, Reno.
But authorities say DNA evidence recently examined links someone other than Woods to the murder scene in a residential garage on the edge of the UNR campus where Mitchell was tied up and her throat slashed in 1976.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported (https://tinyurl.com/mz27dlf ) that the new hearing is set for Aug. 21.
Mitchell’s car broke down in February 1976 across from the University of Nevada-Reno School of Agriculture just north of the downtown casino district. She called her mother for a ride, but she could not be found when her mom arrived 10 minutes later. Her body was discovered in a garage just half a block away by a couple returning home from a night out.
Woods was convicted of the murder in 1980. She won an appeal but was convicted again in 1985. She initially confessed to killing Mitchell while she was under psychiatric care at Louisiana State University Medical Center.
Since then, new technology has emerged that confirms DNA evidence gathered at the crime scene does not match Woods.
The FBI announced in March that the DNA matches that of semen gathered from a separate crime scene in San Mateo, California. FBI spokesman Peter Hill said federal agents were launching a task force to re-examine possible ties between Woods’ case and a series of unsolved murders of five young women in 1976 in what became known as the “Gypsy Hill Murders.”
Deputy Reno Police Chief Mac Venzon confirmed in March that the new DNA evidence does not connect Woods to Mitchell’s murder. But he said “it doesn’t necessarily exclude her either” because authorities believe she may have had an accomplice.
Judge Flanagan said earlier this year that he doesn’t want to rush the proceedings because of the seriousness of the case.
“This court has an obligation to all parties to have a fair opportunity to present their case,” he said.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, https://www.rgj.com
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