Court attitudes shift to accept use of battered woman defense Almost exactly a year after she was scheduled to be executed, Gaile Owens will be released from prison. She would have been the fourth woman in Tennessee's history to be executed.
when Owens stood trial in Memphis in 1986 for hiring a man to kill her husband, Ron Owens, the severe sexual, emotional and physical abuse she suffered at his hands was never mentioned. Owens herself refused to testify about it. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
“There’s been a sea change in attitudes” toward battered woman syndrome, said Christopher Slobogin, a professor of law and psychiatry and director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt University. “The courts were originally hostile to it, but now it has widespread acceptance around the country as a mitigator or, in some circumstances, even as a complete defense.
Gaile was convicted in 1986 of hiring a hit man to kill her husband in 1985. The jury that convicted her and sentenced her to death did not hear any evidence of the horrible physical, mental and emotional abuse that Gaile suffered for years.
As it came to light Tennessee was set to execute a battered woman — who would be only the fourth female prisoner executed in state history and the first since 1820 — her cause drew an all-star cast of supporters locally and across the country.
“This case just stood out as a case that had so many unjust things happening,” said Sue Ostoff, director of the Philadelphia-based National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. “It still takes my breath away how close she came to being executed. … What we’re really arguing for is that battered women, like all defendants, should be able to submit all the relevant evidence.”
It's not clear that the jury would have acted any differently had it known the full story, but thankfully, today, juries are allowed to hear all the evidence in similar trials. And the Governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen, as well as the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, acted courageously to commute Gaile's sentence (the Governor) and judge her eligible for release (the Board).
I believe that killing is wrong, whether it occurs in a dark, trash-filled alley or in a sterile, white-walled prison room. But for me, killings that occur in self defense are sometimes justified. I believe I could kill to protect my wife or daughter. Maybe I could even do it so save myself. So I can understand, whether or not I approve, when a woman, man or child who has been subjected to severe abuse acts in fear and desperation to end the violence by killing the abuser. Often these homicides occur when the victim of abuse feels safe enough to act, as was the case for Gaile. So the circumstances may seem cold-blooded. But the abused person who takes this ultimate, tragic step is still acting in feral panic, fighting to survive.
The obvious remedy for tragedies like Gaile's is to end domestic violence through effective protection, prevention, and treatment. I have seen attitudes evolve over the years. I was assigned to a special domestic violence court for two years, and we all worked together to end the abuse, treat the victims and perpetrators, and prevent the situations from escalating to the point where someone was murdered. Our work was very effective in ending the violence. So I know it can be done.
Despite the many setbacks I have witnessed in my state, Tennessee, concerning capital punishment, Gaile Owens' release makes me proud.