New Charges Possible Against Corona Nurse Whose Murder Conviction Was Overturned

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) – New charges could be coming against a Corona woman whose murder conviction was reversed in the 2003 death of her boyfriend.

Forty-two-year-old Kimberly Long, a mother of two and nurse, was convicted in the October 2003 murder of Oswaldo "Ozzy" Conde, her live-in boyfriend.

In 2016, her conviction was overturned, however, pending a new trial.

A hearing was scheduled on the case Tuesday morning in the California 4th District Court of Appeals in Riverside. It was unclear if any rulings would be immediately made.

Long told investigators she walked into the home she shared with Conde on Oct. 6, 2003, to find blood splattered in the living room and his bloody body on the sofa. He had been beaten to death.

Long's first trial in 2005 in Riverside County ended in a mistrial, with nine of the 12 jurors voting not guilty. When tried a second time later that year, the jury convicted her.

During her sentencing, Judge Patrick Magers, who presided over her case, said: "If the court would have heard the evidence in this case, I would have found the defendant not guilty."

In July 2016, after serving nearly seven years in prison, Magers overturned the conviction. The judge found that Long's original lawyer was inadequate and the evidence pointing to her innocence was credible.

In her second trial, prosecutors had told the jury that Long bludgeoned Conde before changing clothes and getting rid of the murder weapon. However, in his July 2016 ruling, Magers ruled that the jury did not hear evidence that Long did not change her clothes that night, and he said there is little question the murderer would have been splattered with the victim's blood.

Long was allowed to post bail and to be reunited with her family.

At the time, Magers would not go so far as to declare Long not guilty, giving the Riverside County District Attorney's Office the option to retry the case.

The saga continued though. The DA appealed her release. In February, the prosecutors told CBS2 that an appellate court had said it planned to reverse the judge's decision and order Long back into custody for a third trial.