The Region - News from Feb. 27, 1985

Robert Hughes, the former Thousand Oaks teacher twice convicted of murdering his wife in Delaware, has been granted a third trial by the Delaware Supreme Court. The court ruled that juror questioning by the judge before the second trial was not sufficient to screen out several people who knew about Hughes’ first conviction and about a lie detector test Hughes had taken, his attorney, Gerald Street, said. Delaware Atty. Gen. Charles M. Oberly III said the state will prosecute Hughes again, although a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court may delay the trial’s start. Hughes, who once taught at a Lutheran school in Thousand Oaks, has received more than $500,000 from Lutherans and other supporters from across the nation. Hughes, free on bail, will return to Thousand Oaks, possibly by his March 11 birthday, his mother said.