Herta Bailey murder: Georgia Supreme Court throws out Rickey Powell's aggravated battery conviction

Deciding the evidence is insufficient to show Columbus realtor Herta Bailey was still alive Sept. 29, 2008, when her tenant poured muriatic acid on her face and neck, the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday overturned Rickey Powell’s conviction for aggravated battery.

Powell, convicted Nov. 15, 2010, of multiple charges that included murder, concealing a death and financial transaction fraud, remains sentenced to life in prison for murdering his 70-year-old landlord, whose body he stuffed in the trunk of her Ford Mustang before abandoning the car in Columbus’ Beallwood area.

Investigators discovered after her slaying that Powell, who from Bailey rented a house at 5634 Pine Needle Drive, was behind on his monthly $1,100 rent and about to be evicted. The day of the murder, Powell met Bailey after business hours at her 5710 Whitesville Road office in Land Inc., where police later found a blood trail leading to the door.

Detectives said the day after Bailey disappeared, Powell used her Visa credit card to pay about $2,300 in delinquent utility bills.

The acid Powell poured on Bailey burns off skin, and prosecutors warned jurors during his 2010 trial that they would see gruesome photos of Bailey’s body.

“You can live a million years and you might not see anything more violent than Herta Bailey’s skin melting off,” an assistant district attorney told the court.

This story was originally published October 17, 2011 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Herta Bailey murder: Georgia Supreme Court throws out Rickey Powell's aggravated battery conviction."