Who Is Judy Norman Voluntary Manslaughter

In the case of Judy Norman should have been acquitted based on self-defense rather than being convicted of voluntary manslaughter. According to defense psychologist, Judy had been tortured, degraded, and reduced to an animal level of existence. Since her husband had abused her for twenty years physically assaulting her, burning her with cigarettes, forcing her into prostitution, and forcing her to eat dog food off the floor. Judy’s first resort was not to kill her husband, first, she contacted police after a horrible beating, but was so deep in a cycle of fear she did not press charges on her husband. For police officers to be first responders to domestic violence calls they should be trained to know the signs of domestic abuse, and the cycle

Nancy and her husband Bob had been married for 31 years and had two sons together. Nancy was planning to divorce Bob because throughout their marriage there had been numerous occasions of spousal abuse. The morning of May 10th Nancy and Bob got into a heated argument because Bob had found out that Nancy had bought a condo in Florida and was planning on leaving him for good. Nancy then went on to explain that Bob said that he wasted his life with her and why didn’t Nancy just die, and he proceeded to kick her. Bob then proceeded to chase Nancy to the garage with a knife. Nancy responded by taking a hatchet that she had bought the day before and striking him fifteen times and then taking the knife that he had and stabbed him 21 times. Nancy then left to go to work at Longacre Elementary school after the murder. She came back during lunch to clean up the place before her son could see what had transpired in the garage, she said that she had planned to turn herself in but on her own terms. Nancy was caught when police officers found her husband’s body wrapped in a tarp in the trunk of her car a few days later. During the time of her trial both of her sons testified her youngest son testified on her behalf and her eldest son testified against her, giving two conflicting recollections of their marriage. Also, during the trial, the prosecutor argued that the murder was premeditated because they had proof that Nancy went to home depot May 9th and bought the hatchet that she used the next day to murder her husband. Nancy was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. In 2010 Nancy appealed to the court to have her sentence overturned because she claimed her legal counsel was ineffective and did not create a strong case to prove that she suffered from battered woman syndrome. In 2012 the federal court of appeals denied her request for a retrial and she remains in jail