Hawthorne v. State
Florida District Court of Appeal
408 So.2d 801 (1982)
Relevant factsFree
Hawthorne (defendant) was tried and convicted by the State of Florida (plaintiff) for killing her husband. At trial, she sought to introduce expert testimony on battered-woman syndrome to support her claim that she acted in self-defense, but the trial court refused to allow it. Hawthorne appealed the exclusion of that testimony.
IssueFree
Whether an understanding of battered-woman syndrome is sufficiently beyond the knowledge of an average layperson to justify admitting expert testimony on the subject at the trial of a woman who claims to have killed her husband in self-defense.