Blum?s pretrial rescheduled for August

    The pretrial of Washington resident James Dean Blum, 70, has been moved to Aug. 13 at 1 p.m. in the Washington County Courthouse. Blum?s pretrial was originally scheduled to occur this morning at 10 a.m. Blum?s trial is set for Aug. 24, also in the Washington County Courthouse.

    James Blum is charged with the second-degree murder of his wife Patricia Blum, who was found unresponsive in the couple?s home at 1009 East Washington Street on Jan. 11. Patricia Blum was later taken to the Washington County Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Blum is being held in the Washington County jail on a $100,000 bond.

    According to a press release from the Washington County Communications Center, James Blum called the dispatch center on the afternoon of Jan. 11 and stated that he had possibly killed his wife.

    Court documents indicate that during an interview, James Blum admitted to killing his wife by smothering her after she had backed a car into the garage door. According to the documents, Blum said that he had meant to kill Patricia Blum and had held her face-down on the couch for two to three minutes until she stopped breathing.

For more, see our April 30 print edition.