The jury’s original recommendation for the murder trial of Rebecca “Becca” Pettit, now 43, was guilty, but Pettit immediately appealed the conviction and a new trial date was set. Pettit’s new trial date is April 27. First Assistant District Attorney John David Luton said the trial is set for April 27 but defense could ask for further DNA testing which could cause the trial to be postponed again.

Pettit was formally sentenced in April 2005 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which was the jury’s recommendation, after she was found guilty in her first trial.

Pettit was convicted in March 2005 of first-degree murder for the April 2000 death of her 6-year-old son, David Adam Andy Ray Pettit. Sequoyah County sheriff’s deputies found Adam dead in Pettit’s mobile home. His decomposing body was found on the bed beside his mother, who had lacerations to her wrists and ankles. According to court records, the medical examiner determined that Adam died from asphyxiation.

Throughout Pettit’s 2005 trial, the prosecution conjectured that Pettit gave Adam cough syrup to make him fall asleep and then smothered him before she tried to overdose on antidepressants.

The prosecution speculated that Pettit awoke to realize she wasn’t dead, but her son was. At that point, Pettit allegedly tried to cut her wrists and ankles in another suicide attempt.

Pettit, who had once been deemed indigent and was represented by court-appointed attorneys, lost her indigent status less than a year before she was scheduled for trial and ended up representing herself throughout the trial.

The Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS) originally represented Pettit, but after hearing argument by prosecutor in July 2004, at her re-trial, District Judge John Garrett ordered the court-appointed attorneys off the case since her marital and financial status changed. At the time of her son’s death, Pettit was single.

Garrett said in the order that evidence was presented that the defendant posted a bond, moved to Tennessee, married John Duvall, and became employed, all after she was arrested for her son’s death. Pettit was released on a $100,000 bond, paying $10,000 to a bondsman as surety and was released Dec. 21, 2000, while awaiting her trial.

According to the appeals court opinion, Pettit, in her appeal, challenged the trial court’s ruling that she was not indigent for the purposes of court-appointed trial counsel and contended that there was no record evidence that her self-representation at trial was voluntary. The appeals court found that a lack of a record of warnings from the trial court warranted a reversal.

“If the defendant appears pro se, the record must show that she understands the gravity of that decision and the dangers of self-representation,” the appeals court wrote. “We have held that without such a record, we will not presume a defendant’s appearance without counsel at a critical stage of the proceedings was voluntary.”

For Pettit’s next trial, OIDS attorney, R. Lawrence Roberson of Sapulpa, will represent her.

In August 2008, DNA testing caused the August 2008 trial to be continued. Pettit’s re-trial was continued at the defense’s request in order to conduct testing on items found in the house. Luton said the defense wants to conduct their own testing on a shoe, which had blood on it, found outside Pettit’s trailer. He said they wanted to test the blood for DNA purposes. He also said the defense also wants DNA testing done on a handle of a knife, which had blood on it, found in a bathtub in the home.

In various motions filed by Roberson previously, he requested various evidence, including physical and documentary, collected during the investigation into the death of Pettit’s son. In other motions, Roberson also requested all statements by possible witnesses who were unable to positively identify Pettit through a lineup or photos, as well as any polygraph examination administered to possible witnesses, autopsy reports, and all discovery evidence.