Mistrial declared in murder case against Dunwoody woman

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A DeKalb County judge on Monday declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked in their deliberations on the murder case against a Dunwoody woman who shot and killed her husband two years ago.

During the weeklong trial, the eight-man, four-woman jury was asked to decide who was the victim in the case. Was it Lona Scott, who testified she shot and killed her husband of eight years in self defense? Or was it Ralph C. "Cliff" Scott, who was naked and unarmed when he was shot six times in the master bedroom of their three-story home?

After deliberating almost 20 hours, jurors told Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker they were evenly split as to whether the prosecution had proved its case.

Assistant District Attorney John Melvin told Becker the DA's office wants to retry Scott soon.

Defense attorney Brian Steel expressed disappointment that all the jurors did not find Scott not guilty. "I believe in my client," said Steel, expressing confidence she would be acquitted at retrial.

Scott, a 47-year-old mother of two, is free on $500,000 bond.

The killing occurred shortly after 3 a.m. on March 4, 2008, as the couple stood naked in the master bedroom of their three-story home.

Lona Scott testified her husband was angry when she rebuffed him for sex, refused to discuss their pending divorce and declared their marriage was over. Cliff Scott put her in a chokehold and released her when she told him he was going to wake their 5-year-old daughter who was sleeping down the hall, she testified.

Lona Scott said she then grabbed her .22-caliber target pistol from a drawer next to her bed and went to get her purse and keys so she could take their daughter and leave. At that point, she testified, Cliff Scott cornered her and said he now had permission to kill her since she had a gun.

Her husband, a muscular workaholic who ran a successful trucking company, then charged at her, Lona Scott said. Her first shot struck him in the upper left chest. He staggered but when he charged again she opened fire, striking him in both elbows, just above his forehead and twice in the upper back as he fell to the floor.

"I didn't want to die," she testified.

Melvin, the DeKalb prosecutor, told jurors not to believe the defendant. Scott murdered her husband to gain control of his estate, Melvin said. Before he was killed, Cliff Scott was moving his money into offshore accounts to hide it from his wife, according to testimony.

"She had five million reasons to lie," Melvin said, referring to the value of the estate. "It has always been about the money."