In 1983, during a violent argument between Earline Martin and her husband, Earline shot and killed her husband in the couple's home. At the subsequent trial, on aggravated murder charges, Martin claimed self-defense. She stated that she retrieved the gun from the upstairs room, but only after her husband struck her. She claimed she intended to dispose of it. However, when going downstairs with the gun in her hand, she claimed her husband was going to attack. She stated, she "lost her head," and fired several times. With the jury's instructions, the trial judge prompted the state prosecutors to carry the burden of proving all the statutory elements of aggravated murder, they were to do this without a reasonable doubt. She was convicted of aggravated