State v. Norman

After 25 years of extreme abuse — including beatings, burnings, forced prostitution, and public humiliation — Norman (defendant) tried and failed to get help from police (who wouldn't arrest her husband without her filing a complaint, which she feared to do), attempted suicide (during which her husband told paramedics to let her die), and sought help from mental-health and social-services agencies, only to be dragged out, beaten, and burned by her husband again. She then shot and killed him while he slept. An expert testified she believed she was doomed to "inevitable" death from ongoing abuse. Convicted of voluntary manslaughter, an appellate court reversed and granted a new trial, ruling Norman was entitled to a perfect self-defense instruction; the State appealed.