Yesterday following a brief voir dire, a TN jury began hearing the trial of Sharron Chason, a nurse accused of murdering her husband (TruTV’s In Session is covering the trial live). It calls to mind the TN trial of Raynella Dossett-Leath, another nurse accused of murdering her husband.

Sidebar: I have no idea how many nurses each year are charged with murdering their husbands. The only reason I happen to know of Raynella Dossett-Leath is that her trial was also covered live on TruTV and Tennessee is among the few states that permits video cameras in the court. For all I know, nurses are suspicious characters everywhere.

In the Dossett-Leath trial, a nurse was accused of trying to poison her husband, and then, when he refused to die, of shooting him and staging his suicide. Ms. Chason, though, is accused of murdering her husband by unknown means. Not only does the state not know what killed Mr. Chason, but the medical examiner did not even determine the death was a homicide: the deceased’s cause and means of death were “undetermined.” (In many counties, I suspect this would be a coroner’s jury, not a murder jury.)

The jury in the Chason trial is being asked to believe the defendant killed her obese husband (who also had a faulty heart) because he snored.

Let’s face it, this trial is what used to be called “a witch hunt.” It’s the kind of murder trial that can only be staged to vilify an unlikeable woman when her well-liked husband dies suddenly. The same was true of Raynella Dossett-Leath. Ms. Dossett-Leath, though, was unlucky enough to face TN medical examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, who has the uncanny ability to tell not only the trajectory of a bullet, but also to intuit the sequence in which bullets were fired and whether or not it was possible that the shooter “intended” to kill a person. Thankfully for Ms. Chason, no bullets are involved in this supposed murder.

Another similarity between the two cases is the family-feud aspect. In both trials, the victim’s family appears to have been feuding with the defendant for many years. I don’t know if this is a Southern sort of thing. My Southern family certainly has always had a contentious relationship with in-laws. But even if it isn’t common, I hope the Chason jury will take in-law witnesses with a grain of salt.

Women are rarely charged with murder. But the motive usually involves a love triangle or money. It’s a rare female murderer indeed whose motive is snoring.