LEXINGTON, Ky. (Court TV) – A Kentucky woman has been found guilty in the death of her husband following a second trial.
A Fayette County jury convicted Carol Ann Hignite of first-degree manslaughter and wanton endangerment, reported Scripps News Lexington. That same jury recommended a sentence of 11 years in prison.

Carol Ann Hignite appears in court Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, in Lexington, Kentucky. Hignite is accused of attacking her husband and leaving him for dead in Sept. 2017. (Court TV)
Prosecutors argued Carol beat 76-year-old Leon Hignite with a hammer on Sept. 25, 2017, and left him on their bedroom floor for three days before calling for help. Carol was also accused of setting their house on fire during the investigation.
During Carol’s first trial in 2022, prosecutors said Leon suffered a “severe traumatic brain injury, collapsed lung, broken ribs, broken leg, fractured orbital socket and bed sores.” First responders said he was unresponsive, dehydrated and lying in his own filth when they arrived. Leon died six days later, on Oct. 4. A medical examiner’s report said he had 33 lacerations to his head and stated the cause of death as blunt force trauma.
The defense’s timeline claimed Carol was in the kitchen when Leon fell off the toilet in the bathroom. Carol then claimed she helped Leon into the bedroom, where he said he wanted to lay on the floor because of his bad back. Over the next three days, the defense said Carol cleaned Leon when he soiled himself and fed him “ice slivers” that she crushed with a hammer. She called 911 on Sept. 28 after speaking with their primary care doctor.
Carol’s first trial ended in a mistrial. A second jury found her guilty on Jan. 17. Hignite will be sentenced on Feb. 21.