Oroville, CA: Woman claims husband's fatal shooting was an accident

By TERRY VAU DELL-Staff Writer
Posted: 05/21/2010 12:06:35 AM PDT

OROVILLE — A Durham woman who claims she shot her husband accidentally, will be charged with murder, authorities said Thursday.
Cynthia Alexandra Dubose, 40, will be arraigned today on an open count of murder and the intentional discharge of a gun causing death, which carries a separate life term in prison upon conviction.
She is accused of fatally shooting her husband, Montgomery Dubose, 43, early Tuesday morning at the couple's Durham home.
District Attorney Mike Ramsey said after going over the evidence with Butte County sheriff's detectives Thursday, "We do not believe this shooting was an accident."
The suspect had been released from prison last year after serving a term for drug possession.
When questioned, Ramsey said Dubose initially claimed she had left the couple's Durnel Drive home at about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday to buy some cigarettes, and when she returned found her husband bleeding on the floor outside their bedroom.
After being confronted with information supplied to the Sheriff's Office indicating that a couple of weeks ago the Durham couple had been involved in an incident of domestic violence that was never reported, Ramsey said the victim's wife changed her story.
According to the district attorney, Dubose told detectives she was taking a semi-automatic pistol out of the residence, when the gun accidentally discharged. She reportedly told sheriff's investigators that after checking her husband and finding him still alive, she panicked
and drove some distance in a vehicle before throwing the gun away.
She reportedly pinpointed the location where she claimed to have disposed of the weapon, but it has not yet been recovered.
The fact the victim was shot "between the eyes" was among the factors in the decision to charge the Durham woman with her husband's murder, Ramsey said Thursday.
Authorities decided to wait until today's scheduled autopsy to remove the fatal bullet, which is still lodged in the victim's brain.
The victim's wife, who remains in custody, will also be charged with auto theft and possession of a small amount of drugs when she is arraigned later today in Butte County Superior Court.