This is new developments about an old crime. This was not a crime that involved a firearm. But it does address the issue of domestic violence, the abused victim and our legal system. Many domestic violence crimes DO involve firearms, or threats of the use of firearms. Firearms are used frequently in violent domestic relationships resulting in murder / suicides. So it clearly is appropriate for us to discuss and consider here the defense that victims use of killing their abuser out of a long pattern of fear of injury and fear of being killed. This would appear to be a more real and justified fear than some of the other fears expressed by the pro-gun side. Agree, disagree, discuss!
From MSNBC,com and the AP:
Mark Humphrey / AP
Gaile Owens hugs a friend, Linda Oakley, after Owens was released Friday from the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville.By TRAVIS LOLLER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Memphis woman who spent 26 years on death row and came within two months of being executed for hiring a stranger to kill her husband was freed Friday from a Tennessee prison.Gaile Owens, 58, was greeted by a small group of supporters outside Tennessee's Prison for Women. Owens was all smiles as she pushed a yellow laundry cart containing her belongings past the prison's razor-wire fence to freedom.Owens was sentenced to die in 1985, but her death sentence was commuted to life in prison last year and she won parole last week.Mark Humphrey / AP
Gaile Owens walks with her son Stephen as she is released.Once out, she gave her son, Stephen Owens, a long embrace, as well as a former cellmate who is now free.Owens issued a statement before leaving. She said she feels a "responsibility to give back to those who have given so much to me.""I'm looking forward to leading a quiet, private, but productive life," Owens said. "But more than anything, I'm looking forward to being a mother and a grandmother. I can't wait to see my grandchildren, and to fulfill my dream of walking in the park with my family."Stephen Owens, who is now grown and has children of his own, said he realized the transition for his mother was not going to be easy."This will be a slow process, but we will focus on one day at a time," said Stephen, adding that's he's looking forward to spending the rest of the day with his mother. "The days ahead will be completely new and different for all of us; but as always our confidence and trust are in God."Supporters had urged her release, claiming she was a battered wife who didn't use that defense because she didn't want her young sons to know about the physical and sexual abuse.John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and an Owens supporter, said the first time he met her nearly three years ago, he could tell she was sincere and fearful of the future."Clearly she was afraid she was going to die," he said Friday.
