a judge's ruling today allowing the defense to accuse jim dunning of killing his wife nancy seems to miller unfair to the family. >> it's an attempt to divert and dig into very negative painful things. jeff: defense attorneys argue there is enough evidence to suggest the crime was not committed by charles but by jim dunning, the former alexandria sheriff arguing dunning misled investigators and called his wife's death a murder before investigators did. it tends to show that someone else had motive to kill nancy dunning. it is admissible and relevant. >> they have the right to bring up what other information is needed to defend their client. jeff: brian porter strongly objected in court saying that jim dunning was never arrested or charged. the commonwealth's both is not that this is a dirt business, the position is this is a filthy business. the continued denigration of a dead man in a court of law. renee worried for the dunning family as the trial draws neither. >> we want to see it resolved, but the right way. jeff: in court, the judge said that his rule was not meant to suggest or

jim dunning was the alexandria sheriff at the time. wasdefense said there evidence he misled investigators about the state of his marriage and calls his wife's death of murder before it was determined. megan thomas said -- it tends to show that someone else had motive to kill nancy dunning. it is admissible and relevant." thatommonwealth argued evidence is dan and it would be wrong to put the family to the pain of revealing family details. he said the commonwealth's position is not this is a dirty business. the position is that this is a filthy business that continued -- the continued denigration of a dead man in the court of law." the judge said it should be allowed to use the evidence in its efforts to give jurors reasonable doubt. he made a point of saying this court is not suggesting or implying that jim dunning committed this murder. defense had two victories today. the judge also really that a psychologist that the defense wanted to testify will be allowed to testify. the judge also heard arguments about whether tv cameras should

centered a murder in 2003 of nancy dunning, she was a real estate agent and the wife of a sheriff at the time. the defense argued that there is some evidence linking jim at dunning as a suspect in that crime. the prosecution said that this is just the view of a few detectives at the time and it should not be admissible in the trial that is scheduled to start next month. something very similar last month saying that they did not have enough details, and now they said they did have enough details, so that evidence will now be used in the trial. many people in the court do not think that jim dunning had anything to do with the murder of his wife. that could put reasonable doubt into the minds of the jurors. important hearing today because again the trial now is coming up very fast. it is scheduled, again, for next month. concerned about getting an impartial jury in elliott -- jury in alexandria and that is why they are holding the trial over here in fairfax. reporting live here in fairfax county, abc 7 news. >> tom, thank you. a crime alert in northeast washington. there was a deadly late-night shooting that has been ruled a homicide. it was in a parking

the former sheriff of alexandria, jim dunning who has since died. he was never charged for killing his wife because he didn't do it. calling the defense's motion gut wrenching for the dunning family. she kept shaking her head no during the hearing, as the judge told her to stop. he was never charged with a crime and that prosecutors said today that the defense's motion was just a way to slander a dead man to save their client. in fairfax peggy fox, wusa9. >> and that trial is scheduled to begin in fairfax on october 5. >>> a baltimore city police officer is charged with assault. accused of choking a prisoner who was already in restraints. and police officer's half was taking custody of the prisoner. they reported it to internal affairs. the officer is currently off the job. four people were inside that church when the fire started it took firefighters two hours to put out the flames. damage is estimated at $600,000. >>> and now to a dramatic scene today in china. a fire inside a paper flower shop that quick hi spread to a kindergarten on the second f

a judge ruled that charles severance can injuries evidence to cast suspicion on warmer sheriff jim dunning. prosecutors say it drags his name through the mud. the former sheriff died in 2012. the trial is scheduled to begin next month. leon: help is on the way for an often overlooked part of d.c.'s emergency response team. >> you are a vital connection to people who are experiencing the most difficult time in their lives. you are on the other end of the phone. leon: pc graduated its first class of 91 dispatchers in five years. the 22 graduates will join a team that takes more than 1.4 million emergency calls every year. good luck. coming up at 6:00, what could be the defining moment in the race for the republican nomination for president. the message from the president to the three americans that thwarted a terrorist attack on a train bound for paris. leon: nasa raises a red flag over orbital science's mission to the -- doug: comfortable temperatures. we will see if we have more coming up on abc 7 leon: a new government report about the and terry's rocket tares rocket ant explosion. orbita

defense attorneys will be allowed to point the finger of blame at the late alexandria sheriff jim dunningthe three murders, the murder of his wife. the dunning family left the courtroom visibly upset after the judge's ruling. this was the dunning family last september outside police headquarters just after charles severance was indicted for the murders of nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruthann ledato. it seemed to mean exoneration for the late sheriff jim dunning. alexandria police had considered him a suspect in his wife's death for years. today the defense made clear they would put a new spotlight on the former cher pif. other if, a 911 call calling his wife's death a murder before it was known. the defense team won a second victory in court. they will be able to question their own mental health expert at trial and coming up at 6 clk, his diagnosis of charles severance. i'm julie carey, news 4. >>> if you drive i-66 you know how tough travenlg cffic can be. it's crawling right now. adam tuss is live on i-66 to tell us how a new tolling system would help keep the traffic moving, adam. >> t

jim dunning was the alexandria sheriff at the time.id there evidence he misled investigators about the state of his marriage and calls his wife's death of murder before it was determined. megan thomas said -- it tends to show that someone else had motive to kill nancy dunning. it is admissible and relevant." thatommonwealth argued evidence is dan and it would be wrong to put the family to the pain of revealing family details. he said the commonwealth's position is not this is a dirty business. the position is that this is a filthy business that continued -- the

alexandria residents, ron kishy and ruth ann ledato, it finally meant exoneration for the sheriff jim dunning. today the defense made it clear they will put a new spotlight on evidence against the former sheriff. for example a 911 call in which he's heard calling his wife's death a murder before the cause of death was known. a prosecutor fought the cause of death calling it a continued denigration of of a dead man in front of his friends and family. the dunning family i haves believy upset left the courtroom after the judge ruled in favor of the lawyers got the go ahead brick this man to the trial. he admitted today in court marks the first time he's ever laid eyes on charles severance. severance refused to be examined by him. he's formed an opinion about his mental health by reading hundreds of pages of writings and by talking to the defendant's friends and family. his diagnosis, a personality disorder with mixed paranoid and schizo disorder. kill authority, listen to their screams. prosecutors believe his murderous rantings show motive. the trial starts october 5th. the judge delayed until

that third party being former alexandria sheriff, jim dunning, the husband of victim nancy dunning. sheriff dunning died in 2012. but today severance's defense presented evidence from the police investigation to suggest that dunning was a subject in his wife's murder. our northern virginia bureau chief, julie carey, tweeting from the hearing said dunning's family was visibly upset by the judge's ruling to allow that evidence at trial. a psychologist also testified and ruled out schizophrenia as a diagnosis for severance. follow julie and the nbc washington app for updates. back to you. >>> you know, it's interesting to me, mr. trump said that he heard mr. bush very clearly and what mr. bush said. i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. >> carly fiorina, just one of the names in the gop you're talking about right now. the big question this morning, who won the republican presidential debate last night. a lot of you were watching. i'm joined by nbc chief political editor mark murray to talk about that and everything that's going on in politics right

lawyers want to admit evidence claiming that dunning's husband now deceased alexandria sheriffs jim dunningponsible for her murder. >> dc police are investigating a homicide in northeast. this happened in an apartment complex parking lot on east capital. just a few blocks from benning road metro station. police believe the man may have been shot and killed in a vehicle at the scene. >> pope france visit five days away. and later today. we will get a look at the altar set up at the basilica where he will hold mass next wednesday. built by local carpenter. made of wood that is painted to look like marble. >> and you can get more news, traffic and weather updates on good morning washington on newschanel 8. hope you have a great thursday. ♪ ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> welcome back to "gma." you are looking at the aftermath of that dpedly earthquake in chile overnight. 8.3 magnitude, a million people race into the street fearing a tsunami. >> as we say good morning, america

dunning's late husband jim was once alexandria sheriff and he was investigating for her -- was investigated for her murder but was never charged. a psychologist is also expected to testify about some of severance's bizarre behavior. prosecutors say the testimony is irrelevant because severance is not using an insanity defense. severance's trial is set for next month. >>> since the deadly smoke- filled incident at l'enfant plaza's metro station, there have been several reports out of what went -- about what went wrong and what needs to be done so the problem doesn't happen again. now a new report out shows quite simply metro needs to prepare its employees better. nikki burdine has a look at what else is in the review. >> reporter: training or lack thereof is a big problem for metro, this according to a new report just released. the report done by an outside panel of transit experts from across the country shows metro employees are not prepared for emergencies. the report goes even further focusing in on one specific key group of metro workers. those in the rail operations control center base