Delving into the issue of domestic violence, Maryland’s top court has ruled that abuse in prior relationships can be evidence of Battered Spouse Syndrome without its victims having to first show they were repeatedly abused by the significant other they ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome self-defense voluntary manslaughter

Delving into the issue of domestic violence, Maryland’s top court Thursday grappled with whether a judge properly instructed a jury to determine first if a woman suffered from Battered Spouse Syndrome before deciding if she killed her boyfriend in self-defense. ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome Imperfect self-defense self-defense voluntary manslaughter

Delving into the issue of deadly domestic violence, Maryland’s second-highest court ruled Friday that judges have the duty to decide whether to admit into evidence instances of past abuse that indicate defendants may have suffered from Battered Spouse Syndrome when ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome jury instruction self-defense voluntary manslaughter

Trial judges must admit an alleged batterer’s taunts into evidence at murder trials when the defense is battered-spouse syndrome, Maryland’s second-highest court ruled Thursday in overturning the conviction and life sentence of a girlfriend who fatally shot her boyfriend in ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome hearsay

Maryland’s top court knew it was going where no state supreme court had gone before in ruling that a battered spouse who hires a hit man to kill her husband can claim imperfect self-defense, which, if successful, could turn what ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome manslaughter murder self-defense

A sharply divided Maryland high court on Monday split along gender lines in overturning the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence of a woman who hired a man to kill a husband she said physically, verbally and psychologically abused her ...

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome self-defense

A divided Maryland appeals court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence of a woman who hired a man to kill her husband, who she said had physically, verbally and psychologically abused her for more than 25 years.

Tagged with: battered-spouse syndrome Imperfect self-defense self-defense