A judge refused to allow investigators to dig up the body of a former Knox County district attorney general to look for evidence against his widow, who is charged with murdering her second husband. The investigation into the second husband's 2003 death led authorities to question whether Ed Dossett might also have been slain. A medical examiner at the time of Dossett's death in 1992 ruled the district attorney was knocked down and trampled to death by cattle in his pasture. But questions have emerged about whether he was drugged. The widow, Raynella Dossett-Leath, is accused of fatally shooting her second husband, but she claims the retired barber committed suicide. She has never been accused of or charged with any wrongdoing related to Dossett's death.

"At this point in time there is absolutely no proof that Ms. Dossett-Leath committed any crime related to Mr. Dossett, let alone any clear and convincing evidence," Judge Richard Baumgartner said Friday. "I'm convinced that even if you could prove Ms. Dossett-Leath is responsible for the death of Mr. Dossett that that evidence would not pertain to her prosecution in the death of Mr. Leath."

She has fought prosecutors' requests to exhume Dossett's body, saying it "amounts to an abuse of the corpse and is an insult to the dignity of the family." Dossett-Leath, a registered nurse, was attended Friday's court hearing but did not speak.

A medical examiner testified during a previous hearing that toxicology reports completed after Dossett's autopsy indicate the district attorney may have died instead from a morphine overdose.

Dossett had a surgically installed morphine pump to treat pain caused by his terminal cancer, but prosecutors have said the amount of morphine found in his system was so high the district attorney likely would not have been able to walk.

"There are so many unanswered questions that an autopsy could provides us perhaps with answers," said attorney Richard Fisher, who is part of a special prosecution team from Cleveland, Tenn., assigned because of Dossett's ties to the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors contend there are similarities between the deaths of Dossett-Leath's two husbands. David Leath was found to have painkillers and antidepressants that weren't prescribed for him in his system at the time of his death.

Baumgartner said the suggested similarities weren't enough to warrant exhuming a body.

"The law does not favor disinterment of a body," the judge said.

His decision doesn't settle the exhumation issue. Prosecutors earlier made another request to re-examine Dossett's body to determine whether his cause of death needs further investigation.

Dossett-Leath's attorney, James A.H. Bell, said Friday that prosecutors need to do more research before trying to exhume the body.

"The information they need can come from the University of Tennessee (Medical Center) medical records rather than taking a shovel and digging up Mr. Dossett," Bell said.

Baumgartner said he would issue a decision on the second request to exhume Dossett's body by Feb. 29.