State v. Norman
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1988
Author: Jim

Facts:

-Defendant abused by her husband for years

-Husband forced her to prostitute, physically assaulted her, called her names, and quite frankly, lowered her status to an animal

-On the day of killing, husband drunk and really violent.  While he was sleeping, wife shot him.

Procedure:

-The trial judge refused to instruct the jury on the doctrine of self defense.

Issue:

-Did the trial ct. err by not instructing the jury on the doctrine of self defense?

Holding:

-Yes

Rationale:

-For self defense, there are subjective and objective elements

-First, it must appear to D that she must kill to save her life- subjective

-Second, D’s belief must be reasonable- objective

-Under the given facts, it is clear that D was extremely afraid of the victim and she believed that he would kill her anytime he gets the chance

-“Given the characteristics of battered spouse syndrome, we do not believe that a battered person must wait until a deadly attack occurs or that the victim must in all cases be actually attacking or threatening to attack at the very moment defendant commit’s the unlawful act for the battered person to act in self-defense.