The Kentucky Supreme Court has overturned the murder conviction of Donald Southworth.
The high court determined that prosecutors used circumstantial evidence to help convict the Lexington man in the slaying of his estranged wife.
Justice Mary Noble wrote for the court that 52-year-old Donald Southworth should get a new trial in the 2010 death of Umi Southworth. Noble's decision centers on the admission of evidence that Southworth took a used condom and later used it to plant semen on his wife's body to stage a sexual assault.
Justices Will T. Scott and Bill Cunningham would have upheld the conviction, calling the evidence a unique "signature" of the crime that could be traced to Donald Southworth.
Umi Southworth was found hidden behind the couple's home, beaten with a belt wrapped around her neck.