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State v. Norman
Supreme Court of North Carolina
Defendant: Norman; the defendant shot her husband while he was asleep. The defendant argued that perfect self-defense should be granted to her since she was abused for years by her husband and she felt that the time was coming when he was going to kill her. The trail judge denied this battered women syndrome to be introduced as perfect defense and the jury convicted the defendant for voluntary manslaughter. The court of appeals reversed the conviction and now the state appeals.
Issue: Should the option of perfect self-defense be given to the defendant under the given facts?
Holding: No
Legal Reasoning: The court ruled that in order to have perfect self-defense, the defendant must have the reasonable belief that she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm. Also, the defendant must not be the provoking party. The court ruled that since the husband was asleep when the defendant shot him, she could not have been in imminent danger. The defendant did not have reasonable belief that her husband was going to kill her in the near future. The court ruled that in giving the defendant perfect self-defense under such situations would relax the self-defense doctrine and would completely take the 'imminent threat' out of this principle. So the decision of the court of appeals was reversed.