CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Landlady’s Murder Trial Set for March

Landlady Dorothea Puente will stand trial March 13 on charges she murdered nine people. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Jack Sapunor set the date based on when attorneys said they could begin. The trial is expected to last at least six months. Puente, 61, was arrested in November, 1988, after authorities unearthed the bodies of seven tenants from the yard of her downtown Sacramento boardinghouse. Prosecutors allege she poisoned the tenants and two others for their government benefit checks. The defense contends the victims died either of natural causes or, in one case, suicide. “There’s been no credible evidence to show that these people died at the hands of another,” Assistant Public Defender Peter Vlautin told reporters. “Dorothea Puente isn’t guilty of the charges.” Puente could face the death penalty if convicted. She remains jailed without bail.