An Omaha man sentenced to life in prison last year for killing his former girlfriend is asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to grant him a new trial.
Patrick Bauldwin, 47, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced last November in the February 2006 slaying of Pasinetta Prince, 40. Bauldwin insisted throughout the trial and to the judge at his sentencing hearing that he is innocent.
Prosecutors have said that DNA evidence on Prince's and Bauldwin's clothes led police to arrest him three years after Prince was found strangled in the basement of her home. She also had been badly beaten.
Bauldwin's public defender argues, among other things, that police failed to thoroughly investigate other men who might have had opportunity and motive to kill Prince. State prosecutors point to evidence police amassed against Bauldwin, including injuries Bauldwin suffered in what they believe was Prince's attempts to fight off her attacker.
The state's high court will hear arguments in the case on Dec. 8. Douglas County Public Defender Thomas Riley argues that the lower court erred by allowing Bauldwin's statements to police and DNA evidence. He says the lower court also shouldn't have allowed a picture of Prince's injured larynx and tongue into evidence, and that Bauldwin's life sentence was excessive.
The Nebraska Attorney General's Office counters that none of Prince's arguments has merit.
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