An Arizona newspaper publisher who repeatedly claimed his ex-wife poisoned him has dropped lawsuits against her ahead of a trial that was scheduled to start this week. Joseph Soldwedel published the allegations in the Prescott Daily Courier, one of the newspaper he owned. He sued Felice Aspiranti amid a bitter divorce after police found no evidence of his claim that she tried to kill him with a heavy metal once used in rat poisoning. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. Soldwedel also accused Aspiranti of defamation, and she countersued. Soldwedel agreed to drop his claims and Aspiranti dropped hers ahead of the trial which was set to start Thursday. A Yavapai County judge signed off on the deal last month and said the lawsuits cannot not be refiled.
