Lexington woman found guilty of manslaughter in second trial for husband’s death
A second jury found a 76-year-old Lexington woman accused of murdering her husband in 2017 guilty of manslaughter early Friday.
Carol Hignite, 76, faced charges of murder, knowingly abuse/neglect and third-degree arson. She was ultimately found guilty of the lesser manslaughter charge instead of murder, and guilty of wanton neglect of an adult. She was found not guilty of the arson charge, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kathryn Schafer.
The jury recommended Hignite serve 10 years for the manslaughter charge and one year for wanton neglect, Schafer said. If those sentences are confirmed by a judge, Hignite will serve them concurrently and get credit for time served. She would be eligible for parole in about a year and a half.
Hignite has been in jail since September 2017.
The verdict came shortly after midnight, almost exactly 12 hours after the jury began deliberations.
Fayette County prosecutors argued that Hignite killed her 76-year-old husband, Leon Dewayne Hignite, with a hammer, left him dying for days and then set their home on fire.
Hignite’s lawyers argued their client’s husband had severe health issues, fell in the bathroom and that the fire was a “weird” and accidental coincidence.
Hignite’s first trial in December 2022 ended in a mistrial after jurors could not agree on a verdict for the murder charge. One juror refused to convict Hignite, arguing that the evidence did not support the charges. She went on to advocate for Hignite ahead of the second trial.
The Hignites were married for 51 years before Dewayne Hignite’s death.
Evidence produced by the commonwealth showed blood spatter throughout the home — primarily in the bedroom where Dewayne Hignite lay for days before he died. An autopsy reported that more than 30 injuries to his head were a result of “blunt force trauma.” A hammer was found at the scene that tested as a “presumptive positive” for human blood.
The couple’s daughter, Heather Hignite, testified that her father endured years of abuse at the hands of her mother.
Schafer said her team believed Carol Hignite attacked her husband “blitz-style” in the bathroom and throughout the house until he fell to the ground in the bedroom.
Schafer argued it was impossible that a bathroom fall caused Dewayne Hignite’s fatal injuries. While it could not be proven the hammer was the murder weapon, Schafer submitted that it was what caused the injuries and death of Dewayne Hignite.
“This is the story of a woman who killed her husband and set her house on fire,” Schafer said during closing statements. “Make this story end the right way.”
Defense attorney Ben Church said Dewayne Hignite’s death was the tragic result of his failing health and “a couple doing their best together” to navigate aging. He said the story presented by prosecutors was just that: a story.
Church asserted the government and investigators “reverse-engineered” the case against Hignite by only investigating evidence that pointed to their theory.
“I am asking you to look at the evidence that we put on of our expert,” Church asked. “Look at the science and then look at the evidence that the government put on and the science. Look at the reverse-engineering to make the science meet their theory — and vice versa — and look at the commonwealth didn’t put on.”
Church said police never investigated claims Dewayne Hignite suffered a fall in the bathroom and hit his head. No witness was able to definitively confirm a hammer was used to assault him.
Carol Hignite waited three days before calling for help, defense attorneys conceded, because her husband had fallen before and she believed he would get up eventually, as he always did. During that time, Hignite brought her husband ice chips and covered him with a blanket. Church pointed out she did call for help — even though it was not immediately.
Prosecutors argued that a house fire that broke out while first responders were outside the Hignites’ home was an effort to cover up evidence. Hignite’s lawyers argued it was an accident.
Prosecutors attempted to paint Hignite as a “controlling, abusive monster,” which Church said was untrue.
“What the government wants you to believe is this: make no mistake about it, that after 51 years of marriage, at 69 years old, that woman, Carol Ann Hignite, my client, beat her husband to death,” Church said. “They want to imply there is some kind of history of abuse that, my client, Carol Ann, maybe she spent years beating Dewayne. There is no evidence of that.”
The trial began Monday and jurors broke for deliberations around noon Thursday.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 1:53 PM.
