State v. Kelly

Kelly's (defendant's) husband beat and abused her for years. During one public attack, he ran at her with his arms raised in a menacing way; not knowing whether he was armed, Kelly grabbed scissors from her purse and stabbed and killed him. She was charged with murder and claimed self-defense, calling an expert on battered woman's syndrome to explain her state of mind, but the trial court excluded the testimony as inadmissible. The jury convicted Kelly of the lesser offense of reckless manslaughter, and she appealed the exclusion of the expert testimony.