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Woman who sledgehammered husband a witness in murder trial

A Lake in the Hills woman imprisoned for beating her sleeping husband with a sledgehammer could become a key figure next month in the retrial of a man charged with the 2001 slaying of Lakemoor businessman Raul Briseno.

Attorneys for murder suspect Kenneth E. Smith obtained a court order Thursday requiring state prison officials to bring Kelly Dombroski to McHenry County to testify for the defense.

Dombroski, 39, is serving a 15½-year prison term handed down after she admitted striking her husband several times in the head and face with a 10-pound sledgehammer in the couple's Lake in the Hills home. Her now former husband survived the October 2001 attack but suffered a skull fracture and broken eye sockets and partially lost his sight and hearing.

According to court documents, Dombroski will testify that her former McHenry County jail cellmate, Susanne "Dallas" DeCicco, told her in 2002 that she, her cousin and her boyfriend were responsible for Briseno's murder, not Smith.

DeCicco, a McHenry resident in prison on a drug charge, made similar statements to Illinois State Police investigators but later recanted during a 2007 court hearing. At that time she testified that she made up the claims because she was angry with her boyfriend.

Smith's lawyers, however, appears set to make DeCicco's earlier statements a centerpiece of their defense.

Besides seeking testimony from Dombroski, the defense also plans to call DeCicco, DeCicco's sister and another former cellmate, Crystal Foster, to testify about DeCicco's incriminating statements.

Smith, 32, of Park City, faces first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery charges alleging he fatally shot the 35-year-old Briseno during a botched robbery of the victim's Burrito Express restaurant in McHenry.

A jury convicted him in 2003 and he was sentenced to 67 years in prison, but the verdict was overturned a year later by an appellate court that ruled jurors heard improper evidence. His second trial is scheduled to begin April 14.

Kenneth E. Smith
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