California woman's 2001 conviction for murdering her husband is OVERTURNED after two decades in prison as evidence used against her is discredited

More than two decades ago, a California woman was convicted and sent to prison for 25 years to life for murdering her husband.

Jane Dorotik has always maintained that she did not kill her husband of 30 years, Bob Dorotik, and over the years she has filed many motions requesting new testing be done on the evidence used in her case.

Dorotik, now in her mid-70s, was finally able to get her message through to the courts that the evidence evaluated against her in 2001 needed further assessment.

During the summer of 2020, when jails were overcrowded and COVID-19 was a concern, Dorotik was temporarily and conditionally released from prison.

Her legal team hoped that release would become permanent pending a court overturning her jury's verdict.

Jane Dorotik, now in her mid-70s, spoke with CBS' '48 Hours' about her 22 years in prison for the murder of her husband. CBS journalist Erin Moriarty has been covering the case for 24 years

Jane (left) and Bob (right) Dorotik lived in the peaceful foothills outside San Diego before their family's life turned upside down when Bob was murdered and Jane became the accused killer

During a remote hearing, that is exactly what happened when, much to Dorotik's surprise. The state requested that her murder conviction be overturned. The judge agreed to the ask.

But the good news was followed shortly by the San Diego County DA's attempt to retry her. A judge allowed the retrial to proceed, but said some of the central pieces of evidence used against her 20 years ago would not be admissible.

Then, in May 2022, as jury selection was about to begin again, the deputy district attorney walked in and said the state no longer felt the evidence they had was 'sufficient to show proof beyond a reasonable doubt and convince 12 members of the jury. So we are requesting that the court ... dismiss the charges at this time.'

Dorotik was once again, unconditionally, a free woman. 

In an interview with CBS' '48 Hours,' Dorotik spoke with Erin Moriarty, who has covered the case for 24 years.

She described the past two-plus decades in prison as 'torturous in many ways.'

'I suppose many moments when I thought, "How do I keep going?"' she said.

On February 13, 2000, Bob Dorotik, then aged 55, went jogging near the couple's home in northern San Diego and never arrived back home.

Fearing the worst, Jane Dorotik, who was then 53, reported her husband missing after several hours.

Following an all-night search, Bob's body was found, beaten and strangled, along his jogging route.

Three days later, Jane Dorotik was charged with his murder, based in large part on the bloodstains found in the couple's bedroom.

When the Dorotiks' home was searched, spots of blood were found in various areas of the bedroom and on the couple's mattress. Jane explained that her husband had recently had a nosebleed, and the pair had two dogs who had bled - but authorities did not buy the argument

In the years following her conviction, Jane said her attorney's defense strategy was a massive error. 'I would describe my defense as limited and inadequate,' she later came to say. She described the theory that her daughter was the killer as 'absurd'

Investigators quickly determined that Bob Dorotik was killed in a separate location than where his body was found. They then reached the theory that he had been killed in the bedroom he shared with his wife.

When the Dorotiks' home was searched, spots of blood were found in various areas of the bedroom and on the couple's mattress.

Jane explained that her husband had recently had a nosebleed, and the pair had two dogs who had bled - but authorities did not buy the argument. 

In court, two of Jane's children testified against her, and her attorney offered a defense that pinned the murder on her third child, her daughter, Chloe.

Prosecutors hurled a litany of theories at Jane during the trial. She had killed her husband for money and to escape a troubled marriage.

The pair had separated in 1997, but reconciled and had been living together happily, by all accounts, for about 18 months when Bob was killed.

In the years following her conviction, Jane said her attorney's defense strategy was a massive error.

'I would describe my defense as limited and inadequate,' she later came to say. She described the theory that her daughter was the killer as 'absurd.'

'That was the worst strategy of my life ever … I said to my attorney, "If anything happens to Claire, I'm gonna stand up and say I did it."'

Jane Dorotik is pictured left in 2000

Pictured: Evidence that was used at the time. The Sheriff's crime lab at the time was unaccredited and made multiple significant errors while handling the evidence

Bloody syringes found in the Dorotik's trash were, according to Jane, ones she used to give her horses medicine

A member of the legal team who eventually got Dorotik released said the argument used by the prosecution linking her truck to tire marks found near her husband's body was essentially 'junk science'

In the 22 years since she was locked up, Dorotik has worked extensively with the Loyola Project for Innocence out of the Loyola Marymount University School of Law in Los Angeles.

It was through the work of LPI that Dorotik's July 2020 release was secured and her murder conviction was eventually overturned.

The organization pushed the prosecution to admit that the criminalist who prepared the 'bloodstain pattern analysis' to the jury in 2000 was not a competent expert nor was the criminalist who identified the tire impressions near Bob's body that the prosecution relied upon in their argument.

Furthermore, the Sheriff's crime lab at the time was unaccredited and made multiple significant errors while handling the evidence.

When she was finally freed, Dorotik, who says the case and conviction have destroyed everything she and her late-husband built together, said: 'After fighting for nearly 20 years to overturn my conviction, I am so grateful to finally see this day.'

'I have maintained from day one that I had nothing to do with my husband’s murder. 

'Spending almost two decades in prison falsely convicted of killing the man I loved has been incredibly painful.

'I lost literally everything in my life that Bob and I had built together. Thanks to my great legal team at Loyola Law School, I feel like I can finally breathe and I’m able to start thinking about making plans for the future,' she said.