SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A preliminary hearing in the retrial of a woman once convicted of murdering her husband over 20 years ago got underway inside a Vista courtroom Thursday. Jane Dorotik spoke out last summer after a judge overturned the murder conviction that sent her to prison back in 2001.
"I think I've spent 20 years hiding from all of it and now that it's over, now that I'm finally vindicated, that's a huge relief," she told News 8 in July 2020.
Despite the case being overturned due to new evidence, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office is pursuing the case again.
The first person to take the stand Thursday was James Blackmon, a San Diego County Sheriff's deputy who interviewed Dorotik after she reported her husband had gone missing while out on a jog in February 2000.
"I asked Miss Dorotik if they had marital problems and she said not in the past year," he told the court.
The following day, Robert Dorotik's body was found beaten and strangled on the side of a Valley Center road near the couple's home.
At the time, prosecutors alleged Jane Dorotik killed her husband inside their bedroom and dumped his body to avoid losing money in the event of a divorce.
Evidence presented during the initial trial included blood samples.
But, Dorotik's attorneys said that blood was never tested and that newly conducted DNA testing of the victim's clothing, fingernails and a rope alleged to be one of the murder weapons showed no evidence of her DNA, excluding Dorotik from the crime scene.
The defense believes a convicted felon who lived in Valley Center may be to blame.
During Thursday’s preliminary hearing, pictures were shown of the area where Robert Dorotik's body was found.
Deputy Blackmon recalled finding him, saying he noticed what appeared to be tire tracks in the area as well.
"I saw Dorotik, [with] trauma to his head, rope around his neck. He was wearing a maroon jogging suit…..his feet were together. It appeared to me he was placed there," Blackmon said.
The preliminary hearing will continue Friday. It could last up to two weeks, at which point a judge will decide if it will go to trial.
WATCH: If Jane Dorotik didn't kill her husband in Valley Center, who did?