Judge clears woman of killing lover

A CITY-BORN mother has been found not guilty of killing her lover, after a US judge ruled she was insane at the time.

Andrea Carr, 34, had admitted shooting Bill Polen in the head with a shotgun and then slitting his throat at their home in Canton, Ohio. After hearing the evidence, however, Judge Lee Sinclair dropped the charges and sent Carr back to a mental health unit, where she could now be held for up to 18 years.

The court in Stark County was told Carr shot Polen as he slept on a sofa, after he threatened to kill her and her daughter in a row over fast food in December, 2008. She then fled, leaving their 16-month old son behind.

Carr, whose mother lives in Dumbiedykes, has been receiving mental health counselling since her arrest, and had initially been expected to avoid trial after being ruled "mentally incompetent".

After the judge's ruling, prosecutor Hope Konovsky said: "Justice was done."