
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990                   TAG: 9005020413
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

WOMAN LOSES APPEAL IN SON-SLAYING CASE

Karen Diehl was ordered back to prison Tuesday after her appeal of her 31-year sentence for the beating death of her son failed.

Circuit Judge Alan E. Rosenblatt ordered Diehl to report back to the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland by 5 p.m. today. Diehl served 24 months of her sentence before being released on $60,000 bond Sept. 21 while her attorneys argued an appeal before the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Diehl's attorneys argued Rosenblatt erred in the woman's trial by not removing a biased juror. On April 3, the court upheld Rosenblatt's ruling on a 5-5 vote. A tie vote means rejection of the appeal.

Diehl was convicted in 1987 of involuntary manslaughter, abduction, assault and child neglect in the death of her 13-year-old adopted son, Dominick J. "Andrew" Diehl. Her husband, Michael J. Diehl, 44, was convicted of similar charges and sentenced to 41 years.

- Associated Press

by CNB