Improper Furby Evidence Nets Convicted Killer A New Trial

LOUISVILLE, Ky.   The Kentucky Supreme Court has granted an eastern Kentucky man a new trial after finding that evidence in the shooting of a Furby had been improperly admitted in the case.

The court found that a trial judge erred when he allowed jurors to hear that 50-year-old Richard Gabbard shot the talking toy that resembled a hamster or an owl in 2001, about five years before he was charged with shooting and killing his girlfriend after a night of fighting and drinking.
   

The justices, in an unsigned opinion, found evidence of the toy's demise could have swayed jurors that Gabbard was a good shot and didn't accidently fire the fatal bullet that killed Michelle Davidson Krystofik in Lee County.