HOUSTON – It was a case that captivated the city's attention: a renowned cancer doctor accused of poisoning her lover, another doctor at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Since Dr. Ana Gonzalez was convicted of aggravated assault and sent to prison for 10 years for poisoning her lover, Dr. George Blumenschein, she has sat in jail -- oftentimes alone. She cannot practice medicine or give medical advice, but her attorneys say she deserves a new trial.
"The day after the trial, we received a very tearful phone call from a woman in Alaska," said Gonzalez's attorney, Derek Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth said he talked to that woman before the trial and she told him she and Blumenschein were just friends. But after the trial ended her story changed. She told Hollingsworth she also had a romantic relationship with Blumenschein, just before Gonzalez did. According to court documents, the woman says she felt like Blumenschein misled the jury into believing he had an affair with Gonzalez because she pressured him. The woman from Alaska also said Blumenschein told her he had ended his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Evette Toney.
"We asked the court for a new trial to allow us to present this critical evidence that we found only after the trial," Hollingsworth said.
Prosecutors described Gonzalez as devious, diabolical and dangerously deadly in their closing arguments in September. Defense attorneys said the once well-known doctors now sits in prison, reading and washing clothes.
She will stay in prison as her attorneys push for a new trial.
"Statistically, we have a very slim chance of getting a new trial," said Hollingsworth, "but, with this new piece of evidence that has come forward, that is game-changing."
Prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney's Office would not comment on the appeal.