Cheryl McCafferty appears in court on motion for new trial

COVINGTON, Ky. - Cheryl McCafferty, the Fort Thomas woman who shot her husband to death while he slept in bed in 2007, returned to Campbell Circuit Court Friday seeking a new trial.

As McCafferty's two children watched, Special Judge Robert McGinnis issued a preliminary ruling on her motion. McGinnis ruled that Campbell Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle Snodgrass, who prosecuted McCafferty, and members of her staff can not participate in a hearing to determine if McCafferty had effective counsel. McGinnis set another hearing on the motion for April 9.

When McCafferty asked for a new trial in March 2012, she claimed her lawyers made mistakes in the case and deprived her of due process. She said her lawyers failed to investigate and provide an expert witness on the "battered woman defense." McCafferty’s lawyers did argue that she shot her husband in self-defense.

McGinnis was assigned the case after Campbell Circuit Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward recused herself. Ward had presided over McCafferty’s trial in 2009, and McCafferty’s motion for a new trial had asked for Ward to be taken off the case.

McCafferty is serving an 18-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter in the killing of her husband,  Robert, 44.  She was convicted in March 2009 and denied parole in January 2011.