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Criminal Law Keyed to Ohlin
State v. Norman
Citation:
324 N.C. 253, 378 S.E.2d 8 (1989)ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The defendant’s husband, John Thomas Norman, was found dead with three gunshot wounds. His blood alcohol level was .12 percent. The defendant told the police that her husband had been beating her all day and had made her lie down on the floor while he slept on the bed. After he fell asleep, the defendant carried her grandchild to the defendant’s mother house and took a pistol from her mother’s purse. She walked back home and then shot her husband as he slept. She told the officer that she killed him because “she took all she was going to take form him.”
At trial, the defendant presented evidence that showed a long history of physical and mental abuse by her husband. The defendant said that he was only abusive when he was drunk, but that he would not give up drinking. Evidence also showed that her husband did not work and forced her to make money by prostitution. He would beat her if she refused to prostitute herself or if he was unhappy with the money she made. He would randomly call her “dog,” “bitch,” and “whore” and on a few occasions made her eat pet food out of the pets’ bowls and bark like a dog. He threatened to kill her numerous times.
In the morning on the day before his death, the defendant’s husband was arrested for driving while impaired. When he returned home from jail, he was angrier than ever. The defendant called the police and complained that her husband had been beating her all day and that she could not take it anymore. She was advised to file a complaint but she said she was afraid her husband would kill her if she had him arrested. The deputies told her that they would need a warrant before they could arrest her husband and left.
The deputies were called back after less than an hour when the defendant took a bottle of pills. The defendant’s husband told the paramedics to let her die. Her stomach was pumped at the hospital and then she was sent home. The next day, after suffering more abuse, she shot her husband.
She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The Court of Appeals granted a new trial, citing as error the trial court’s refusal to submit an instruction on self defense.
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Topic Resources
Topic Outline
DefensesTopic Refresher Course
Introduction to Defenses and Self Defense