People v. Wu

Helen Wu, known as Chau (defendant), had a child with Wu but was never given any real commitment of marriage; she left the child with Wu in the U.S. and returned to China to avoid the cultural shame of an out-of-wedlock child. Years later, during a visit, the child told Chau that Wu beat him, and Chau — experiencing heart palpitations and telling the child she wanted to die — strangled the child and then unsuccessfully tried to kill herself. Charged with second-degree murder, Chau testified she didn't remember the strangling and offered cross-cultural psychology expert testimony that her cultural background contributed to a heat-of-passion killing; the trial court denied her requested jury instruction on that cultural evidence, and the jury convicted her.